End-of-life care in pediatric palliative care

Abstract

The problem of EOL care of a child is very important because the recovery of a family from grief over a child’s death depends on that manner. For improving the quality of this specific care, it would be useful to assess the life expectancy/survival of congenital anomalies, life-threatening diseases, conditions that may shorten a child’s life, and the outcomes of palliative care units regarding mortality. Besides, there is an urgent need for more data on what families define as ‘good death’ and how to cope with the loss. Not only caregivers but also siblings, grandparents, relatives, and healthcare professionals are impacted by a child’s death and their needs must be explored. Pediatric palliative care staff in low/middle-income countries need educational assistance for skills of multidisciplinary training about end-of-life care to improve appropriate care for dying children and their families. It is important to provide sensitive and empathetic end-of-life care to children in a family-centered manner helping them to find comfort, meaning, and support while enhancing the quality of a child’s life and death. Many attending physicians felt inexperienced when communicating with dying patients and their families while discussing the transition to palliative care and resuscitation status. Also, the good death of a child is an emerging concept in this research domain to improve end-of-life care for dying children and their families. The goal of this review was to provide pediatric healthcare professionals and physicians with an overview of palliative care regarding end-of-life issues.