Pediatric Palliative, End-of-Life, and Bereavement Care (original) (raw)
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Bol Med Hosp Infant …, 2010
In this paper we discuss different aspects of palliative care in pediatrics and how the definition has changed and evolved. We also define what a terminally ill patient is, list the objectives of care, and how to implement care practices. We describe different ways to diminish physical, social, emotional and spiritual suffering. The dying process is described according to the different stages of child development. The spiritual aspects are now considered an important part of the approach with children. We must keep in mind the different barriers that we may encounter when we initiate palliative care. Education and further research is still needed to improve care and to achieve better results.
Pediatric End-of-Life Issues and Palliative Care
Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine, 2007
Optimizing the quality of medical care at the end of life has achieved national status as an important health care goal. Palliative care, a comprehensive approach to treating the physical, psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients and their families facing life-limiting illnesses, requires the coordinated efforts of a multidisciplinary group of caregivers. Understanding the basic principles of palliative care can aid emergency department staff in identifying patients who could benefit from palliative care services and in managing the challenging situations that arise when such patients present to the hospital for care.
End-of-life care in pediatric palliative care
Journal of Medicine and Palliative Care
The problem of EOL care of a child is very important because the recovery of a family from grief over a child’s death depends on that manner. For improving the quality of this specific care, it would be useful to assess the life expectancy/survival of congenital anomalies, life-threatening diseases, conditions that may shorten a child’s life, and the outcomes of palliative care units regarding mortality. Besides, there is an urgent need for more data on what families define as ‘good death’ and how to cope with the loss. Not only caregivers but also siblings, grandparents, relatives, and healthcare professionals are impacted by a child’s death and their needs must be explored. Pediatric palliative care staff in low/middle-income countries need educational assistance for skills of multidisciplinary training about end-of-life care to improve appropriate care for dying children and their families. It is important to provide sensitive and empathetic end-of-life care to children in a fami...
Research in Advancing Pediatric Palliative Care
Home Healthcare Nurse, 2012
Approximately 53,000 children die each year in the United States and more than 400,000 are living with life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses. Many providers lack the education and resources needed to provide safe, quality pediatric palliative care. Optimally, services should be provided by an interdisciplinary team that would support the medical, psychosocial, spiritual, educational, and emotional needs of families and children with life-limiting illnesses. Below are summaries of 4 published research articles related to pediatric palliative care that describe some of the ongoing barriers in this area and innovative programs working toward reaching more people in need of these services. The 1st article addresses the important role nurses can play by facilitating palliative care communication and supporting the shift to early palliative care. The 2nd research study profiled in this article explores barriers to palliative care experienced by healthcare providers. The 3rd article identifies 4 countries with innovative pediatric palliative care programs and strategies these programs used to overcome some of the challenges they encountered. The 4th article features a successful state-funded pediatric palliative program in Massachusetts. Readers are encouraged to read the full articles to learn more about the studies and the palliative care programs briefly described here.
Pediatric palliative care nursing
Annals of Palliative Medicine, 2019
Palliative care is patient-and family-centered care that enhances quality of life throughout the illness trajectory and can ease the symptoms, discomfort, and stress for children living with life-threatening conditions and their families. This paper aims to increase nurses' and other healthcare providers' awareness of selected recent research initiatives aimed at enhancing life and decreasing suffering for these children and their families. Topics were selected based on identified gaps in the pediatric palliative care literature. Published articles and authors' ongoing research were used to describe selected components of pediatric palliative nursing care including (I) examples of interventions (legacy and animal-assisted interventions); (II) international studies (parent-sibling bereavement, continuing bonds in Ecuador, and circumstances surrounding deaths in Honduras); (III) recruitment methods; (IV) communication among pediatric patients, their parents, and the healthcare team; (V) training in pediatric palliative care; (VI) nursing education; and (VII) nurses' role in supporting the community. Nurses are in ideal roles to provide pediatric palliative care at the bedside, serve as leaders to advance the science of pediatric palliative care, and support the community.