Objectives: Accurate prediction of time to death after withdrawal of life-sustaining therapies may improve counseling for families and help identify candidates for organ donation after cardiac death. The study objectives were to: 1) train a long…
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the quality of care offered to terminally ill children and their families in the last days of life in two Brazilian Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) from the parents' perspectives. METHODS: This was a qualitative,…
Although legacy-building is a priority for quality palliative care, research has rarely examined effects of legacy interventions in children, particularly their impact on parent-child communication. We examined the impact of a web-based legacy…
INTRODUCTION: Cancer remains a major cause of death in children, but recent advances in supportive care and progress in the use of chemotherapy have considerably improved the prognosis. The need for intensive care management in pediatric oncology…
CONTEXT: Palliative care in children is used to be only intended for those in near end-of-life phase. Ideally, palliative intervention should be given since the first time of cancer diagnosis. Palliative care is introduced from the beginning of the…
OBJECTIVE: Over the past few years, an integrated approach of palliative care (PC) to chronic and/or life-threatening conditions care has been widely used. Home-based PC (HBPC) service is developed to meet the needs of patients at home; however, it…
OBJECTIVE: The importance of palliative care education for nurses has been recognized worldwide. The study aims to explore the experiences of nurses working with children with palliative care needs and to identify any related educational needs.…
The purpose of this study was to assess the use of analgesic agents for invasive medical procedures in pediatric and neonatal intensive care units. The directors of 38 pediatric units and 31 neonatal units reported that analgesics were infrequently…
Sedation with analgesia is frequently required to perform painful or invasive procedures in children. The best medication combination for pediatric sedation with analgesia is yet to be identified. Sixty-four of 243 total sedation with analgesia…
Purpose: Although the radiotherapy utilization rate (RUR) is determined for most adult cancers, it is seldom reported in childhood tumors, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where the majority of pediatric cancer patients reside.…
CONTEXT: Given workforce and funding constraints, pediatric hospice and palliative care clinicians often find challenges providing services for seriously ill children and families, particularly in low resource and rural/remote areas. OBJECTIVES: To…
Clinicians face many challenges in caring for children with severe neurological impairment (SNI). This study aimed to understand expert clinician perspectives on the personal impact of caring for children with SNI to highlight the challenges and…
OBJECTIVES: Care for children with severe neurologic impairment (SNI) often involves complex medical decision-making where therapeutic alliance between clinicians and families is essential. Yet, existing data suggest that communication and alliance…
OBJECTIVES: To describe the characteristics, critical care resource requirements, and outcomes of children who were hospitalized after a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) consult in the Emergency Department (ED). METHODS: In this single-centre…
OBJECTIVES: To assess parents' and health care providers' perceptions of the name and description of a pediatric palliative care (PPC) program. METHODS: Survey conducted at three pediatric health care sites; asked respondents (parents and staff)…
CONTEXT: Despite emerging evidence of substantial financial distress in families of children with complex illness, little is known about economic hardship in families of children with advanced cancer. OBJECTIVES: To describe perceived financial…
Religion is an important element of end-of-life care on the paediatric intensive care unit with religious belief providing support for many families and for some staff. However, religious claims used by families to challenge cessation of aggressive…
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether children who experience longer intensive care unit (ICU) stays after open heart surgery may be identified at admission by clinical criteria. To identify factors associated with longer ICU stays that are potential…
OBJECTIVE: To determine the attitudes and practices of pediatric critical care attending physicians and pediatric critical care nurses on end-of-life care. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: A random sample of clinicians at 31 pediatric…
OBJECTIVE: To describe the attitudes and practice of clinicians in providing sedation and analgesia to dying patients as life-sustaining treatment is withdrawn. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective case series of 53 consecutive patients who died after the…
Palliative care, which aims to provide comprehensive, interdisciplinary, holistic care to children, adolescents and adults with life-threatening, and ultimately life-limiting conditions, is a discipline that has emerged as an integral component of…
BACKGROUND: Entering the paediatric intensive care unit with a critically ill child is a stressful experience for parents. In addition to fearing for their child's well-being, parents must navigate both a challenging environment and numerous new…
PURPOSE: To explore bereaved parents' perspectives of parent and staff roles in the pediatric intensive care unit when their child was dying, and their relationships with healthcare staff during this time. DESIGN AND METHODS: Constructivist grounded…
The common paediatric critical care practice in France is for physicians (rather than parents) to maintain the ultimate responsibility for lifesupport decisions in children. Some French literature asserts that it is inappropriate for parents to bear…
Internal data from the sole pediatric hospice in British Columbia were utilized to investigate mortality trends among children dying from life-threatening conditions. Characteristics of the sample (hospice) were compared to that of the population…
BACKGROUND: Recurrent or refractory cancer often results in substantial and extensive physical, emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual burdens for children and their families. However, the therapeutic benefits of legacy interventions in children with…
Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the experience of community palliative care nurses providing home care to children. Method: A qualitative study was conducted at the 3 community palliative care provider organizations in greater Kuala…
Background: Family conferences in the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) often include palliative care (PC) providers. We do not know how ICU communication differs when the PC team is present. Aim: To compare language used by PC team and ICU…
BACKGROUND: Communication plays an important role for the well being of patients, families and also health care professionals in cancer care. Conversely, ineffective communication may cause depression, increased anxiety, hopelessness and decreased of…
In this retrospective study, a sample of 233 parents were surveyed, by means of a postal questionnaire, about their experience of a specialised paediatric retrieval service (median time interval after child's retrieval=10 months). Although all…
BACKGROUND: The management of pain in children has advanced enormously in recent years. Pharmacological treatment of pain is complicated however, by the widespread use of unlicensed and off label medicines in the paediatric population, leading to…
BACKGROUND: Despite advancements in treatment and survival, pediatric organ failure and transplant populations continue to face significant risks of morbidity and mortality. Little scientific attention has been given to addressing the end-of-life…
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To explore children's, parents' and nurses' views on participation in care in the healthcare setting. BACKGROUND: Children have a right to be consulted and involved in their care. DESIGN: The grounded theory method was used and…
Fatigue in adults with cancer has received considerable attention as a troublesome symptom that requires nursing intervention. Fatigue in children with cancer, however, has received considerably less focus. The first phase of the present study used…
Children with single ventricle congenital heart defects (SVCHD) experience a significant risk of early mortality throughout their lifespan, particularly during their first year of life. Due to the intense care needed for these children and families,…
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: To identify the knowledge of caregivers of pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) on the French law related to patients' rights and end of life, their views on withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatment (WWLST)…
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Retrospective studies show that most parents prefer to share in decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment (LST) from their children. We do not yet know how physicians and parents communicate about these decisions and to…
PURPOSE: In the last few decades, interest in palliative care and advance care planning has grown in Brazil and worldwide. Empirical studies are needed to reduce therapeutic obstinacy and medical futility in the end-of-life care of children with…
This study explored the experiences and needs of nine parents who had received hospital-based bereavement support following the death of their child from cancer, in Western Australia. Six prominent themes emerged from thematic data analysis: personal…
