Priorities for Safer In-Person School for Children With Medical Complexity During COVID-19

Children with medical complexity (ie, children with multiple severe chronic conditions, high resource use, severe functional limitations and substantial family-identified service needs [CMC]), are at higher risk for severe coronavirus disease, including hospitalization and death. Deciding to send CMC to school poses a major dilemma to families and staff wanting to minimize COVID-19 exposure. The goal of this study from HIP Investigator Dr. Ryan Coller was to establish statewide consensus priorities for safer in-person school for children with medical complexity (CMC) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic using a rapid, replicable, and transparent priority-setting method.

The study adapted the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative Method, which allows for crowdsourcing ideas from diverse stakeholders and engages technical experts in prioritizing these ideas using predefined scoring criteria. After contribution from 460 stakeholders, priorities were developed and outlined in this paper.

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