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Addressing 10 Myths About Pediatric Palliative Care
Kim Sadler1, Saadiya Khan2, Khaled AlGhamdi3
1Oncology and Liver Diseases Department, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Insights
Pediatric palliative care (PPC) improves quality of life for children with serious illnesses by managing symptoms and offering support. Addressing misconceptions about PPC is crucial for its effective integration and to ensure children receive comprehensive care.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Sciences
- Pediatric Healthcare
- Palliative Care Medicine
Background:
- Advances in biomedical sciences have shifted pediatric conditions from life-limiting to chronic, increasing medical complexity and impacting quality of life.
- Pediatric palliative care (PPC) is essential for managing suffering in children with serious health conditions.
- Despite the recognized need, misconceptions about PPC hinder its integration and optimal utilization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and deconstruct common myths surrounding pediatric palliative care.
- To provide evidence-based guidance for healthcare providers to address these misconceptions.
- To improve awareness of the scope and benefits of PPC for children with complex health trajectories.
Main Methods:
- Review and analysis of current evidence-based references in pediatric palliative care.
- Identification and deconstruction of prevalent misconceptions regarding PPC.
- Guidance development for healthcare providers on addressing these myths.
Main Results:
- Common misconceptions include associating PPC solely with end-of-life care, cancer, and loss of hope.
- Misbeliefs about withholding information from children impede comprehensive care.
- PPC providers possess advanced communication skills, pain/symptom management expertise, and focus on improving quality of life.
Conclusions:
- Addressing misconceptions about PPC is vital for its effective integration into pediatric healthcare.
- Enhanced awareness of PPC's broad scope ensures children receive maximum support throughout their complex health journeys.
- PPC offers crucial expertise in symptom management, communication, and quality of life improvement for children with serious illnesses.
Abstract:
With advances in biomedical sciences, a growing number of conditions affecting children have evolved from being considered life-limiting to almost chronic diseases. However, improvements in survival rates often come at a cost of increased medical complexity and lengthy hospitalizations, which can be associated with a poorer quality of life. This is where pediatric palliative care (PPC) can play a significant role. PPC is a specialty of healthcare that focuses on the prevention and relief of suffering in children with serious conditions. Unfortunately, despite the well-identified need for PPC services across pediatric specialties, multiple misconceptions persist. Common myths about palliative care are identified and deconstructed in light of the most recent evidenced-based references in the field to provide guidance to healthcare providers to address these. PPC is often associated with end-of-life care, loss of hope, and cancer. Some healthcare providers and parents also believe that information like diagnosis should be withheld from children for their emotional protection. These examples of misconceptions hinder the integration of pediatric palliative care and its additional layer of support and clinical expertise. PPC providers have advanced communication skills, are able to instill hope in the face of uncertainty, are trained to initiate and implement individualized pain and symptom management plans, and understand how to improve the quality of life in children with serious illnesses. Improved awareness about the scope of PPC is needed to ensure that children benefit from the maximum expertise and support throughout their complex health trajectories.
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