Pediatric Palliative Care: Insights into Assessment Tools and Review Instruments

Abstract

The proper assessment of needs and outcomes in pediatric palliative care (PPC) is imperativeto ensure the best possible service to patients and families. However, given the multidimensionalnature of PPC, the low number of patients in this setting, the heterogeneity of diseases, the presenceof cognitive impairment in many patients, and the physiological development of children, outcomescan be complex and difficult to measure. Consequently, in this context, the use of standardizedand validated tools to assess the needs of children and families, to assess symptom severity, andto estimate the quality of PPC service represent a current need. Even if efforts have been made tostandardize approaches and tools for palliative care in adults, to our knowledge, a similar comprehensiveassessment of PPC has not yet been conducted to date. This narrative review provides anoverview and discusses the evaluation of tools currently applied in PPC, with an educational intentfor healthcare providers. We found that several instruments are available to assess different dimensionsof PPC. We proposed a classification into eligibility tools, patient and family needs assessmenttools, and care assessment tools. At present, two main eligibility tools exist, the PaPaS Scale and theACCAPED Scale questionnaire. Most of the tools for patient and family needs assessment have notbeen specifically validated in the PPC setting, and many may be more readily applied in researchsettings rather than in daily practice. Similar considerations can be made for tools assessing QoL,while tools assessing PPC service quality seem to be easily applied. Efforts to develop new specifictools and validate existing ones are undoubtedly advocated. However, in the patient’s best interest,PPC healthcare providers should start using available tools, regardless of their validation status.