Palliative Care for Children Essay - 1307 Words

Palliative Care for Children: Enhancing the Quality of Life for a Child with a Life-Threatening Illness Melissa Spitler English Composition 2 Instructor Barckholtz May 17, 2010 Palliative Care for Children: Enhancing the Quality of Life for a Child with a Life-Threatening Illness â€Å"Each year in the USA about 500,000 children are coping with life-threatening illnesses† (Huang et al., 2010). The standard of care for children living with life-threatening conditions is vital for these children as well as their families. Palliative care, which is treatment aimed at reducing pain and other symptoms, rather than treatment aimed at a cure, is extremely important early on. An improvement with earlier access to palliative care involves†¦show more content†¦Communication is an effective key in pediatric palliative care. The topic of a dying child is a very sensitive matter. Many times communication about managing the child’s pain and the necessary measurements needed to ease progressive pain are not discussed thoroughly among health care providers, parents, and even the child. The result is that parents and the sick child do not have the opp ortunity to express their concerns and feelings. This leads to unnecessary psychological and social distress for the child and the child’s family. â€Å"Improved communication is noted as one of the most important factors in enhancing end-of-life care in a pediatric setting† (Hsiao et al., 2007). These factors are beneficial to maintaining the best care for the child. The relationship between hospital staff, the child, and the child’s family is crucial. â€Å"Parents have emphasized the importance of receiving honest and complete information from staff, having ready access to staff, and having continuous, caring relationships with compassionate staff â€Å"(Hsiao et al., 2007). Along with the parents’ communication with staff, parents feel it is important to have the child communicate directly with the physician when appropriate. They feel â€Å"gaining the child’s perspective is critical if there is to be a cohesive relationship among the child , parent, and health care provider† (Hsiao et al., 2007). Also, children who are able and comfortable enough to communicate with physicians benefitShow MoreRelatedPediatric Nursing And Palliative Care1649 Words   |  7 PagesThe words pediatric and palliative care when put together are rather difficult to stomach. The image of a sprouting new life when juxtaposed with concerns for end-of-life care is almost ironically antithetical. It is easy to see why pediatric palliative care is an emerging subspecialty with much left to fully develop. 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But a study found that, it is not known whether EOLC of children with cancer meets this standard of care. In a Boston study, it was found that children experienced substantial suffering towards the EOL, and treatment was seldom successful. The study also found