BACKGROUND: Children with a life-limiting condition often require extensive and complex care, much of which is provided by their parents at home. There is a growing body of research that aims to understand the experiences of these parents, but the…
BACKGROUND: Palliative care (PC) provides numerous benefits for children with cancer. Pediatric patients with high-grade glioma (HGG) are particularly well suited for early PC involvement given their high symptom burden and poor prognosis. However,…
Objectives Using transmucosal fentanyl as an opioid for rapid acting, needle-free breakthrough relief of symptoms is established within paediatric palliative medicine.1 2 Medication administration via the buccal route is commonly used in paediatric…
BACKGROUND: Poor psychological well-being among healthcare staff has implications for staff sickness and absence rates, and impacts on the quality, cost and safety of patient care. Although numerous studies have explored the well-being of hospice…
BACKGROUND: Worldwide, around 21 million children would benefit from palliative care and over 7 million babies and children die each year. Whilst provision of paediatric palliative care is advancing, there major gaps between what should be done, and…
BACKGROUND: An estimated 21 million children worldwide would benefit from palliative care input and over 7 million die each year. For parents of these children this is an intensely emotional and painful time through which they will need support.…
BACKGROUND: The circumstances and care provided at the end of a child's life have a profound impact on family members. Although assessing experiences and outcomes during this time is challenging, healthcare professionals have a responsibility to…
Background/aims: The death of a child or young adult is fundamentally painful. Evaluating end-of-life care experiences can identify specific needs and ensure good quality care is provided. Our aim was to identify tools assessing quality of dying,…
CONTEXT: Polypharmacy is often appropriate for children with life-limiting conditions but is associated with an increase in hospitalisations and inappropriate prescribing, and can affect the quality of life of children and their families as they…
Background: Globally, pioneers in children's palliative care influenced this speciality's development through individual initiatives leading to diverse models of care. Children's and young adults' hospices have now been established around the world.…
OBJECTIVES: To offer an interpretation of bereaved parents' evaluations of communication with healthcare practitioners (HCPs) surrounding the death of a child. DESIGN: Interpretative qualitative study employing thematic and linguistic analyses of…
PURPOSE: New pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) nurses face distinct challenges in transitioning from the protected world of academia to postlicensure clinical practice; one of their greatest challenges is how to support children and their…
BACKGROUND: Children with a life-limiting condition often require extensive and complex care, much of which is provided by their parents at home. There is a growing body of research that aims to understand the experiences of these parents, but the…
INTRODUCTION: A growing number of children and young people are surviving severe acquired brain injuries due to advances in healthcare. However, many fail to emerge from coma and continue to live with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Diagnostic,…
BACKGROUND: Consistent evidence suggests that children's palliative care is not equitable and managed clinical networks (MCNs) have been recommended as a solution. This study explored the perspectives of health professionals involved in the…
Background: Specialist paediatric palliative care services are promoted as an important component of palliative care provision, but there is uncertainty about their role for children with cancer. Aim(s): To examine the impact of specialist paediatric…
Delivering optimal end-of-life (EOL) care to children and adolescents is a healthcare priority, yet relatively little is known about what patients, families, and healthcare providers (HCPs) consider "best" practices. The objective of this study was…
OBJECTIVE: Increasingly the views of young people are sought when improving healthcare; however, it is unclear how they shape policy or practice. This paper presents a consultation with young people commissioned by the National Institute for Health…
PROBLEM: There is a growing international drive to deliver children's palliative care services closer to home. Families should have choice of where end of life (EOL) care is provided with home as one option. This review aims to establish the current…
AIMS: To explore the palliative care experiences of forced migrant children, families, and healthcare professionals (HCPs) highlighting successes, challenges, and associated practice implications. DESIGN: Systematic literature review. DATA SOURCES:…
Background: Empirical descriptions of a 'good death' exist for older adults with cancer, and these have served as the foundation for providing quality end of life care. In contrast, little is known about what, if anything, constitutes a 'good death'…
Measuring the severity of neurologic dysfunction in patients with inherited ataxias, including Friedreich ataxia (FA), is difficult because of the variable rate of progression, the variable age at onset and the variety of neural systems that may be…
OBJECTIVES: This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness of bereavement support interventions (BSIs) for parents of an infant or a child who has died from a medical condition or in unforeseen circumstances. METHODS: A systematic search of…
OBJECTIVES: Following publication of detailed national neonatal palliative care guidance, practical regional guidance, in the form of multidisciplinary 'checklists', was implemented aiming to improve the quality of neonatal palliative care. METHODS:…
OBJECTIVE: To describe parent perspectives regarding the end-of-life experience of children with advanced heart disease. DESIGN: Cross-sectional multicenter survey study of bereaved parents. SETTING: Two tertiary care pediatric hospitals. SUBJECTS:…
An increasing number of children and young people require end of life care, and providing them and their families with optimum support at this time is crucial. This article describes how nurses working with children and families in home, hospital and…
AIM: The aim of this study was to identify the potential risks and benefits of sleeping infants in a Pepi-Pod distributed to families with high risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy compared to a bassinet. METHODS: Forty-five mostly indigenous…
REDCap is a novel workflow methodology and software solution designed for rapid development and deployment of electronic data capture tools to support clinical and translational research. We present: 1) a brief description of the REDCap…
BACKGROUND: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of viral lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). Viral LRTI is a risk factor for bacterial superinfection, having an escalating incidence with increasing severity of…
Children who live with medical conditions that were previously considered incompatible with long term survival are often highly dependent on interventions and equipment which would traditionally have required hospitalization. However, it is generally…
OBJECTIVE: Computed tomography (CT) has gained widespread acceptance in the evaluation of children with suspected appendicitis. Concern has been raised regarding the long-term effects of ionizing radiation. Other means of diagnosing appendicitis,…
CONTEXT: Review of published research indicates the need to better incorporate patient and caregiver perceptions when providing end-of-life (EOL) care. Although considerable research regarding patient and caregiver experience of EOL has been done,…
A previous study found that parents of communicatively impaired children with severe cognitive impairments identified six core cues as indicating definite or severe pain in their child (J. Pediatr. Psychol. 27 (2002) 209). The frequency of each cue…
BACKGROUND: Although opioids are commonly used to treat chronic neuropathic pain, there are limited data to guide their use. Few controlled trials have been performed, and many types of neuropathic pain remain unstudied. METHODS: Adults with…
BACKGROUND: Children's hospices are a key provider of palliative care for children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. However, despite recent policy attention to the provision of paediatric palliative care, little is…
To review the qualitative literature on experiences of and preferences for end-of-life care of people with cancer aged 16-40 years (young adults) and their informal carers. A systematic review using narrative synthesis of qualitative studies using…
