Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2025
Establishment of Cancer Stem Cell Cultures from Human Conventional Osteosarcoma
Published on: October 14, 2016
Perceptions of specialty palliative care and its role in pediatric stem cell transplant: A multidisciplinary
Griffin S Collins1, Hannah Beaman2, Alvin M Ho2
1Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
Insights
Pediatric stem cell transplant teams view palliative care favorably and desire more integration. Barriers include insufficient resources and lack of a standardized process, which can be addressed by adapting existing models.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
- Palliative Care Medicine
- Healthcare Systems Research
Background:
- Specialty palliative care consultation is infrequent in pediatric stem cell transplant (SCT).
- Early palliative care integration shows benefits in advanced cancers and SCT.
- Understanding multidisciplinary pediatric SCT team perceptions of palliative care is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore perceptions of palliative care among pediatric SCT teams.
- To understand current palliative care integration within SCT.
- To identify barriers hindering increased palliative care integration.
Main Methods:
- Semistructured interviews were conducted with members of a multidisciplinary pediatric SCT team.
- Participants included physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, social workers, and child life specialists.
- Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview data.
Main Results:
- SCT team members perceived the palliative care team favorably.
- Participants expressed a desire for greater palliative care integration in SCT.
- Identified barriers included insufficient palliative care resources and a lack of standardized consultation processes.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric SCT teams have positive views of palliative care and its potential role.
- Modifiable barriers to palliative care integration were identified.
- Adapting existing models can improve standardization and increase specialty palliative care integration in SCT.
Background:
Consultation of specialty palliative care remains uncommon in pediatric stem cell transplant (SCT) despite growing evidence that early integration of palliative care improves outcomes in patients with advanced cancers or undergoing SCT. Little is known about how multidisciplinary pediatric SCT teams perceive palliative care and its role in SCT.
Procedure:
We conducted semistructured interviews of members of a multi-disciplinary SCT team to understand their perceptions of palliative care, how specialty palliative care is integrated into SCT, and to identify barriers to increased integration. Eligible participants included physicians, nurses, inpatient nurse practitioners, social workers, and child life specialists. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results:
Four major themes were identified. First, SCT team members held a favorable perception of the palliative care team. Second, participants desired increased palliative care integration in SCT. Third, participants believed that the palliative care team had insufficient resources to care for the large number of SCT patients, which led to the SCT team limiting palliative care consultation. And, finally, the lack of a standardized palliative care consultation process prevented greater integration of palliative care in SCT.
Conclusions:
SCT team members held a favorable perception of palliative care and saw a role for greater palliative care integration throughout the SCT course. We identified modifiable barriers to greater palliative care integration. SCT teams who desire greater palliative care integration may adapt and implement an existing model of palliative care integration in order to improve standardization and increase integration of specialty palliative care in SCT.
Related Concept Videos
01:25Continuing Care
01:27Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
01:30Specialized Care Centers and Settings-II
Rural health centers are specialized care facilities in remote locations with very few medical personnel. The primary care providers who run the centers are mostly Registered Nurse Practitioners. Here, emergency treatment is provided to critically ill or injured patients before they are transferred to the closest hospital. Fortunately, due to advancement in technology, many rural healthcare facilities and professionals have easy access to diagnostic and treatment...
01:17Stem Cell Culture
01:18Distinctive Features of Adult Stem Cells vs Cancer Stem Cells
Adult stem cells
Adult stem cells are tissue-specific; hence, they divide to develop the tissue from which they originate. One type of adult stem cell is the epithelial stem cell, which gives rise to the keratinocytes in the multiple layers of epithelial cells in the epidermis of the skin. Adult bone marrow has three distinct types of stem cells:...
01:21Stem Cell Therapy for Tissue Regeneration
Types of Stem Cells used in Stem Cell Therapy
The two main cell...