Neonatal Palliative Care in the United States Deep South: Exploration of Patterns of Care and Health Disparities

Neonatal Palliative Care in the United States Deep South: Exploration of Patterns of Care and Health Disparities

Currie E; Boss R; Wolfe J; Dionne-Odom JN; Ejem D; Bakitas M

Journal of Pain and Symptom Management

2018

infant; newborn; Mississippi; terminal care; palliative therapy; major clinical study; neonatal intensive care unit; conference abstract; medical record review; human; child; female; male; controlled study; resuscitation; statistics; chi square test; Alabama; health disparity; Louisiana; race

Background: In 2013, 23,446 infants died in the U.S.. For infants hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), advances in medicine have prolonged the lives of many infants who would not have previously survived, resulting in complex clinical scenarios that would benefit from the integration of pediatric palliative care (PPC). PPC is an interdisciplinary specialty that aims to provide the best possible quality of life for seriously ill infants and their families and involves comprehensive treatment of suffering. However, PPC is often underutilized in the NICU, integrated too late in the illness for the patient and family to fully benefit from PPC, or avoided completely. Access to palliative care in the U.S. varies across regions, with limited access to PPC in the Deep South. However, patterns of neonatal palliative care and the extent of disparities within neonatal PPC throughout the Deep South is unknown.

February 2019 List