• Aleksandra Leligdowicz, Satish Bhagwanjee, Janet V Diaz, Wei Xiong, John C Marshall, Robert A Fowler, Neill Kj Adhikari, and Acute Care for Africa Research and Training (ACART) Group and the International Forum of Acute Care Trialists (InFACT).
• Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Division of Critical Care Medicine, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: aleksandra.leligdowicz@uhn.ca.
• J Crit Care. 2017 Apr 1; 38: 172-176.

PurposeCapacity to provide critical care in resource-limited settings is poorly understood because of lack of data about resources available to manage critically ill patients. Our objective was to develop a survey to address this issue.MethodsWe developed and piloted a cross-sectional self-administered survey in 9 resource-limited countries. The survey consisted of 8 domains; specific items within domains were modified from previously developed survey tools. We distributed the survey by e-mail to a convenience sample of health care providers responsible for providing care to critically ill patients. We assessed clinical sensibility and test-retest reliability.ResultsNine of 15 health care providers responded to the survey on 2 separate occasions, separated by 2 to 4 weeks. Clinical sensibility was high (3.9-4.9/5 on assessment tool). Test-retest reliability for questions related to resource availability was acceptable (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.94; 95% confidence interval, 0.75-0.99; mean (SD) of weighted κ values = 0.67 [0.19]). The mean (SD) time for survey completion survey was 21 (16) minutes.ConclusionsA reliable cross-sectional survey of available resources to manage critically ill patients can be feasibly administered to health care providers in resource-limited settings. The survey will inform future research focusing on access to critical care where it is poorly described but urgently needed.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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