Neonatal nurses in mainland China encounter various challenges when it comes to delivering palliative care to neonates. The aim of this study was to determine the barriers and facilitators of neonatal nurses' attitudes to palliative care for neonates…
Losing a child is devastating for parents and grandparents. Family and friends generally focus on comforting and supporting the bereaved parents, unintentionally ignoring the bereaved grandparents. Grandmothers and grandfathers often struggle with…
While the underlying principles are the same, there are differences in practice in end of life decisions and care for extremely preterm infants compared with other newborns and older children. In this paper, we review end of life care for extremely…
OBJECTIVE: To clarify the process of end-of-life decision-making in culturally different neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). STUDY DESIGN: Review of medical files of newborns >22 weeks gestation who died in the delivery room (DR) or the NICU…
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:…
BACKGROUND: This study is aimed to perform the translation and cultural adaptation of the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale (NiPCAS) and evaluation of its psychometric properties with Portuguese neonatal nurses. METHOD(S): The research started…
Muslims comprise nearly a quarter of the worldwide population, with significant populations in the United States, Canada, and Europe. As clinicians, it is important to be familiar with Islamic religious and cultural perspectives on medical treatment,…
The article analyses the decision-making process between doctors and parents of babies in neonatal intensive care. In particular, it focuses on cases in which the decision concerns the redirection of care from full intensive care to palliative care…
This study was conducted to determine neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses' opinions about the palliative care needs of neonates with multiple congenital anomalies. The study sample consisted of the 20 nurses who agreed to participate in the…
Context: More than 74% of pediatric deaths occur in an intensive care unit (ICU), with 40% occurring after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies (WOLST). No needs assessment has described provider needs or suggestions for improving the WOLST…
Siblings of patients that have lengthy stays in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) may be affected emotionally by their brother’s or sister’s condition, separation, or even death. In an effort to assess the effect of perinatal loss on siblings a…
BACKGROUND: Current conceptualisations of moral distress largely portray a negative phenomenon that leads to burnout, reduced job satisfaction and poor patient care. OBJECTIVE: To explore clinical experiences, perspectives and perceptions of moral…
BACKGROUND: Mortality and end-of-life decision-making can occur in newborns, especially within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. For parents, participating in end-of-life decision-making is taxing. Knowledge is lacking on what support is helpful to…
AIM: Medical providers may face unique emotional challenges when confronted with the suffering of chronically ill, dying, and bereaved children. This study assessed the preliminary outcomes of participation in a group-based multimodal mindfulness…
OBJECTIVES: When active treatment is no longer in the best interests of the patient, redirection of care to palliation is an important transition. We review, within a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), the journey leading to the decision…
Background: Hospitalization of a neonate in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) can be a stressful event for parents. They need specific information and communication to alleviate their stress, but these parental needs are not met by NICU staff.…
Withdrawing life-sustaining technologies requires all of the resources and concepts that the field of palliative care has to offer. By learning some fundamental principles of medical management at the time of withdrawal and by mastering a few…
Moral distress is prevalent in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where decisions regarding end-of-life care, periviable resuscitation, and medical futility are common. Due to its origins in the nursing literature, moral distress has primarily…
Since 1982, children's hospices in the UK have provided services where families can care for their children at the end of life (EOL) in a less medicalised environment. More recently, the services of many children's hospices have extended to newborn…
The perinatal world is unique in its dutiful consideration of two patients along the lines of decision-making and clinical management - the fetus and the pregnant woman. The potentiality of the fetus-newborn is intertwined with the absolute…
BACKGROUND: Late-onset sepsis (LOS) in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The ability to predict mortality in infants with LOS based on clinical and laboratory factors at presentation of…
At Children's Hospital of Wisconsin there is a pediatric palliative care consultation service that serves a diverse patient population, including infants. However, the value of a palliative care consultation for infants has not been well evaluated.…
BACKGROUND:
In Canada and other developed countries, the majority of neonatal deaths occur in tertiary neonatal intensive care units. Most deaths occur following the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments.
AIM:
To explore neonatal death events and…
More than 80 000 babies are admitted to specialist neonatal units in the United Kingdom every year, with approximately 2109 neonatal deaths a year; 98% in hospital. A common element in guidance and pathways to facilitate the provision of palliative…
Background Neonatology has made significant advances in the last 30 years. Despite the advances in treatments, not all neonates survive and a palliative care model is required within the neonatal context. Previous research has focused on the barriers…
OBJECTIVE: Comparing demographic and clinical characteristics associated with receipt of palliative care (PC) among children who died in children's hospitals to those who did not receive PC and understanding the trends in PC use. METHODS: This…
Research on perinatal bereavement services is limited. The aim of the study was to compare the uptake of bereavement support services between two tertiary neonatal units (NNU), and to investigate influencing factors.
BACKGROUND: Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) music therapy is an emerging discipline. There is a growing evidence base supporting its use, with an emphasis on the immediate and short-term positive effects on infants' physiological responses and…
With increasing facilities for antenatal diagnosis, lowering gestation for intiation of intensive care, palliative care in the perinatal period is increasingly recognized as a specialist area. There have been standards and pathways developed in the…
The purposes of research were to describe the neonatal clinicians' personal views and attitudes on neonatal ethical decision-making, to identify factors that might affect these attitudes and to compare the attitudes between neonatal physicians and…
One of the most essential components of end-of-life (EOL) care for neonates is assessing and addressing distressing symptoms. There is limited evidence to guide neonatal EOL symptom management and therefore significant variety in treatment (1-4). EOL…
Background: Perinatal/neonatal palliative care (PNPC) offers a plan of care for improving the quality of life of infants when the prolongation of life is no longer the goal of care. The number of PNPC programs has increased in recent years, but…
OBJECTIVES: Neonatal palliative care (NPC) is an emerging subset of care in United States (US) neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) that provides relief for both infants and families at the end of life for infants with terminal diagnoses. Families…
Background: One major challenge to the conduct of rigorous neonatal palliative care research is the lack of robust universally agreed upon definitions of key concepts central to pediatric and neonatal palliative care. Objective: We sought to define…
Aim: End-of-life care remains within the scope of practice of all neonatal units. There is a paucity of literature regarding the evidence-base for palliative care interventions in the perinatal or neonatal population (Balaguer).
