Abstract Background: Many children do not return to their pre-admission health status following admission to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU), facing a range of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social challenges collectively known as Post-Intensive Care Syndrome in Paediatrics (PICS-p). The sequelae associated with PICS-p necessitate comprehensive follow-up care intending to address these multifaceted needs. The Post Intensive care outcomes and follow-up in Children: A Collaboration of Health care providers, researchers, and families Utilizing knowledge co-production (PICACHU) study aims to develop a shared care follow-up service for post-PICU patients and their families. It also seeks to facilitate outcomes research and identify quality improvement (QI) initiatives to mitigate the impact of PICS-p. Methods: The study employs a pragmatic approach informed by the Medical Research Council (MRC) framework and co-design methodology. The research includes surveys and focus group discussions (FGDs) with purposively sampled post-PICU families, acute care pediatricians, community pediatricians, general practitioners (GPs), and primary care nurse practitioners (NPs). Data collection tools include adapted versions of existing surveys and semi-structured interview guides. The analysis will involve qualitative and quantitative methods, utilising SPSS for statistical analysis and NVivo for thematic analysis of FGDs. Conclusion: The PICACHU study is the first of its kind to use a co-design approach to create a post-PICU shared care follow-up service in British Columbia (BC), Canada. The findings will provide valuable insights for improving post-PICU care services in BC and potentially other jurisdictions.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

The project is funded by BC Children's Hospital Foundation (BCCHF), which is not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation. Additionally, BCCHF does not provide input in the article's writing or the decision to submit for publication. BC Children's Hospital Foundation provides open access funding.

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethics committee/IRB of the University of British Columbia gave ethical approval for this work (H23-01929.

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Data can be requested from 1 year after study completion from the principal investigator (JR). E-mail: jretallack@cw.bc.ca