Rationale: The decision of whether to initiate or forgo long-term ventilation (LTV) for children with life-limiting conditions can be complex and impactful. Providers are responsible for helping families to understand the consequences of their…
Healthcare providers influence the experiences of families during end of life care and death of a child*. Nurses are best placed to provide bereavement support as they have opportunities to build therapeutic relationships through closely and…
Context Despite national requirements mandating collaboration between palliative care specialists and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) teams at institutions that place destination therapy ventricular assist devices, little is known about the…
Background: In children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD), discussions about end-of-life decisions (EoLDs) are comparatively common. Nurses play a crucial role in the care for these children, yet their involvement in EoLD…
Introduction. Parents of a child diagnosed with a life-threatening illness often experience the state of cognitive and emotional disorganization. The key factor determining parents-physicians cooperation is the quality of their relations. That is why…
Introduction Of the 74% of UK childhood deaths that occur in hospital, an increasing number-up to 65%-occur in PICU. There is little information about the impact of this on those who provide minute-to minute care of the children and their families,…
Background: Advance care discussions (ACD) between health care professionals (HCPs) and parents of children with a life-limiting disease are a core element to successful pediatric advance care planning (pACP). Yet, they are considered as challenging…
Background/aim: Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) in hospitals mainly focuses on the parents and siblings of children suffering from a life limiting disease. However, most grandparents are also highly involved in the caring of the child and require…
Background: Inpatient hospice care (IHC) for adults in Germany is used in the last weeks of life. Children, adolescents and young adults (ACA) with life-limiting diseases are entitled to 28 days/year of IHC during their lifetime. We explored various…
Background: Families caring for a child with a life limiting condition not only provide 24 hour complex care but also must care for siblings and cope with everyday tasks. Research suggests families could benefit from 'domestic support' (Fraser et al,…
Objectives: Research has shown that advance care planning concepts for adults need to be revised and adapted to be applicable to pediatric situations. A consistent approach to pediatric advance care planning (pACP) is still missing. The study aimed…
Objectives: The experiences of medical residents during training in pediatric palliative care has recently become an area of focus within medical education literature. Residents' medical knowledge, skill development, and comfort in clinical practice…
Individuals with chronic illnesses must manage long-term uncertainty as they cope with the ways the illness influences their lives. In the context of pediatric illnesses, parents must manage uncertainty during the diagnosis and treatment of their…
BACKGROUND:: There is few literature on the difficulties and different meanings of gastrostomy tubes (GST) for parents of children with palliative needs, and what specific palliative care teams contribute to this process. AIM:: To explore the process…
Introduction: The birth of an extreme preterm infant often comes unexpectedly. Decisions, then, must often be made quickly and under circumstances that can be emotionally stressful for parents or morally burdensome for health care professionals. In…
Background: Individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) face the challenges of managing a chronic, progressive disease. While palliative care is a standard of care in serious illnesses, there are no guidelines for its incorporation into CF care. Patients…
Canuck Place Children's Hospice in Vancouver, Canada, has been hosting a massage therapy practicum within the hospice since 2011. The practicum is delivered by upper-level massage therapy students who are supervised by a registered massage therapist…
Background: We aimed to explore the shared decision-making context at the limit of viability (weeks 22-25 of gestation) through analyzing neonatologist's communication strategies with parents and their possible impact on survival and…
BACKGROUND: Medical technologies and technological advances have resulted in a growing number of children with medical complexity (CMC), many of whom would not have survived previously. Despite these advances CMC are still at high risk of morbidity…
BACKGROUND: Pediatric palliative care programs aim to improve the quality of life of children with severe life-threatening illnesses, and that of their families. Although rehabilitation and physical therapy provides a valuable tool for the control of…
Objective: Quality of Life (QoL) is the core of pediatric palliative care (PPC). The evaluation of QoL allows the adjustment of patient care. However, it remains difficult for clinicians to measure it in this population because there is very little…
Adolescents and young adults 15 to 25 years of age with incurable cancer are a unique patient group. There is growing evidence of the emotionally taxing nature of this work, yet limited understanding of the health care professional experience across…
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'…
Purpose: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with terminal cancer are a marginalized population with unique medical and psychosocial needs. AYAs commonly report challenges with their health care experiences, however, little is known about the…
Purpose of study Care for children with cardiac disease often involves difficult decisions and clinical uncertainty. Genomic Sequencing (GS) promises to improve clinical prognostics and could impact how difficult decisions are made. We sought to…
PURPOSE Adolescents and young adults (AYAs; age 15-39 years) with advanced cancer are a population in whom quality of life is uniquely affected because of their stage of life. However, training focused on palliative care for AYAs is not routinely…
Context: Clinicians deciding whether to refer a patient or family to specialty palliative care report facing high levels of uncertainty. Most research on medical uncertainty has focused on prognostic uncertainty. As part of a pediatric palliative…
This study aimed to identify parental needs for pediatric palliative care and obtain their opinions on developing pediatric palliative care in South Korea. This qualitative research design used inductive and deductive methods. The data were collected…
Background and Aims: Transition to palliative care (PC) is a critical aspect of pediatric oncology requiring a high level of communication skills from doctors, which could be best judged by parents of children died in cancer. Our aim was to explore…
This study aims to understand the experiences of professionals involved in caring for families of children with life-limiting illnesses to ascertain unmet needs, access issues and expectations of services.A phenomenological approach comprising…
Background: When making end-of-life decisions for a child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), standard practice is to involve parents in shared decision-making so that the values of parents are considered and decisions are made in the…
The healthcare providers caring for children with life-threatening illnesses experience considerable compassion fatigue. The purpose of this study was to describe the feelings and emotions of professionals working in an interdisciplinary pediatric…
Objective: To pilot feasibility and acceptability of HomeVENT, a systematic approach to family-clinician decision-making about pediatric home ventilation. Methods: Parents and clinicians of children facing home ventilation decisions were enrolled at…
BACKGROUND: Legacy building interventions are used in pediatric healthcare settings to help families cope with difficult healthcare experiences and typically reserved for intentional use at or near the end of a child's life. However, little is known…
Purpose: To describe the process of delivery of pediatric palliative care from the perspective of a pediatric interdisciplinary team and the children's parents. Methods: A qualitative descriptive case study was conducted. Purposeful sampling took…
Objectives Children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions (LLLTC) have complex needs and are high users of health and social care. Several quality standards exist that highlight the importance of addressing the needs and wishes of…
Background: Provision of and access to paediatric end-of-life care is inequitable, but previous research on this area has focused on perspectives of health professionals in specific settings or children with specific conditions. This qualitative…
Introduction: Being responsive to end-users is essential to good care. Limited in-depth exploration of parental perspectives on care received by children over the course of serious illness has hindered the development of process measures to evaluate…
