BACKGROUND: A multidisciplinary outpatient clinic at a tertiary care children's hospital supported and staffed by a children's hospice was created to enhance and expand the inpatient palliative care services available to families of children with…
BACKGROUND: Children with progressive metabolic, neurological, or chromosomal conditions and their families anticipate an unknown lifespan, endure unstable and often painful symptoms, and cope with erratic emotional and spiritual crises as the…
OBJECTIVES: To increase awareness of the topic of paediatric palliative care among practicing physicians in Canada by exploring the impact of a child’s neurological or rare genetic life-threatening condition on the affected child and his/her parents.…
This retrospective study analysed data for 703 children who died from 2000 to 2006 to examine where children with a broad range of progressive, life-limiting illnesses actually die when families are able to access hospital, paediatric hospice…
OBJECTIVES: Pediatric palliative care has seen the adoption of several service provision models, yet there is minimal literature describing them. Canuck Place Children's Hospice (CPCH) is North America's first freestanding pediatric hospice. This…
The foundational principle of palliative care is to provide comfort, ameliorate symptoms, and offer emotional support when death is inevitable. Advance care planning (ACP) elicits patients' goals for the future. One important result of an ACP…
BACKGROUND: Pain and irritability of unknown origin (PIUO) is a challenging problem for nonverbal children with severe neurological impairments. PIUO is not associated with an identifiable source of nociceptive-inflammatory or neuropathic pain.…
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Bone pain in malignancy can be challenging to treat. Bisphosphonates have been found to be useful in adults with bone pain, but there are no reports of their use in children for this indication. In pediatric palliative medicine…
This secondary analysis of data examined the psychosocial outcomes of meaning in caregiving, self-esteem, optimism, burden, depression, spirituality, and posttraumatic growth in 273 parents caring for children with life-limiting illnesses to (a)…
Sibling relationships reflect a unique childhood bond, thus the impact on a sibling when a child is seriously ill or dying is profound. We conducted a prospective, longitudinal qualitative study over two years using interpretive descriptive…
This article presents findings from a study on the impact of a child's death on parents. We explored the prominence and adaptiveness of parents' continuing bonds expressions, psychological adjustment, and grief reactions. A qualitative case study…
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the recommended nutritional intake of moderately to severely neurologically impaired children is congruent with current growth parameter expectations. METHODS: Observational cross-sectional study at a children's…
The relationship between perceptions of control and symptoms of both long-term depression and post-traumatic stress was examined. Enduring beliefs of personal competence and control were found to be associated with lower rates of depression and…
Neurological symptoms are very common in children with life-limiting conditions and are challenging in terms of burden of illness. Moreover, neurological symptoms can significantly impact the child's quality of life and contribute to distress among…
PURPOSE OF REVIEW:
Ethical challenges are commonly encountered when caring for children with life-threatening conditions.
RECENT FINDINGS:
Controversial end-of-life issues, such as physician-assisted death and medical futility, may also arise in…
Excess oral secretions or sialorrhea is a common problem affecting children and adults with neurological disorders, as well as those approaching the end of life because of a variety of underlying illnesses. Systemic anticholinergic medications are…
BACKGROUND: This paper defends the ethical and empirical significance of direct engagement with terminally ill children and adolescents in PPC research on health-related quality of life. Clinical trials and other forms of health research have…
In pediatric oncology nursing, and across practice disciplines in general, clinical research serves as the cornerstone for improving patient care. Historically, advances made in the care and cure of childhood cancer have stemmed directly from…
Objectives
Systematic reviews (SRs) are considered the gold standard of evidence, but many published SRs are of poor quality. This study identifies how librarian involvement in SRs is associated with quality-reported methods and examines the lack of…
INTRODUCTION: The use of medicinal cannabis in the paediatric age group is increasing despite the lack of evidence for its efficacy or safety. OBJECTIVE: To map the available evidence on the efficacy and safety of medicinal cannabis in children and…
Knowledge synthesis constitutes a key part of evidence-based medicine and a scoping review is a type of knowledge synthesis that maps the breadth of literature on a topic. Conducting a scoping review is resource intensive and, as a result, it can be…
A palliative care service provider may add or decrease overall operational costs to the healthcare system. This study assessed the costs of managing respite care for children with life-limiting illness at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario…
Historically, from a Freudian and medical model perspective, emotional disengagement from the deceased was seen as essential to the successful adaptation of bereavement. A major shift in the bereavement literature has occurred and it is now generally…
Viewed in an expanded frame, the phenomena of grief and bereavement call for analysis in sociological, psychological, and psychiatric terms. In this article, the authors argue that a common theme in these accounts is that of the meaning of loss as…
‘Virtual memorials’ intended to memorialize the lives of children imply significant shifts in the conceptualization of death, particularly for grieving parents. Created by parents in memory of their deceased children, on-line memorials constructed…
Abstract Specific grief behaviors observed in children ages 4-16 years in the 2 years after the death of a sibling are reported. Using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the parents of 90 boys and girls rated the occurrence of behavior problems in…
