Validating obstetric triage systems, what are we really measuring - A modified Delphi process introducing outcome measures for obstetric emergency triage systems

Table 2 Overview of the four-round modified Delphi process

Participants	Format	Action/Question	Result	Degree of consensus
*Round 1*
Seven senior obstetricians Three senior midwifes	Survey by e-mail	Which condition/s are you concerned about when a patient presents with these symptoms?	63 conditions identified	.
LL	Compilation	.	Grouping conditions, see Supplementary 1	.
*Round 2*
Six senior obstetricians	Discussion in physical meeting	“If your assessment of the patient at the ED reveals a severe and/or urgent case of any of the 63 conditions, which intervention/treatment would you initiate at the ED that you would not initiate if the case was less severe/urgent”?	40 interventions identified	100%
LL + VS	Discussion	Compilation of outcome measurements excluding outcome measurements defined by/initiated in accordance with GOTS.	30 interventions / outcome measurements	.
*Round 3*
Six senior obstetricians	Discussion by e-mail	Discussion on suggested changes, such as removed intervention	31 interventions / outcome measurements	100%
LL + VS + EE	Discussion	Grouping and further assessment of outcome measurements		.
*Round 4*
Four senior obstetricians	Anonymous grading Discussion in physical meeting	Grading of interventions / outcome measurements	3 levels of interventions, see Table 3	100%

LL, VS, EE, - initials of the authors, ED emergency department, GOTS Gothenburg obstetric triage system
Participants where obstetricians and midwives working at the obstetric ED at the Obstetric unit of Sahlgrenska University Hospital where triage is based on GOTS. For detailed process description, see Supplementary 1.

ISSN: 1471-2393