September 01, 2001

Pediatric End-of-Life Task Force concludes first year, identifies barriers to care

Facing dying children and their families on a daily basis, staff members in an intensive care unit were informally asked if they agreed or disagreed with the statement that there is a reluctance to address end-of-life care issues. An overwhelming number, 88%, responded “yes.”

The reluctance to openly and honestly discuss terminal conditions and care creates a barrier to providing optimal care to dying children and their families. This was one of the findings identified by the Pediatric End-of-Life Care Task Force sponsored by the Center for Ethics and funded by the Harland Foundation to address end-of-life care in children. The Task Force, composed of health care professionals involved in caring for dying children and bereaved parents from across the state, participated in a series of meetings over the past year.

As a basis for identifying recommendations for improvement in care and services provided to Georgia’s children, the members of Task Force initially described several barriers to care. Some of these identified barriers include:

  • Limited knowledge of palliative care by professionals within acute pediatric settings
  • General reluctance to address end-of-life needs by professionals within acute pediatric settings
  • Difficulty in addressing palliative care needs simultaneously with curative care
  • A Medicaid system that is complex, such that coordinating and addressing the needs of dying children and their families is very difficult
  • Few hospice settings that can adequately address the needs of children
  • Difficulty in identifying and accessing those services that are available

These findings as well as the full work of the Task Force will be documented in a report due out later this year. Work on this topic will continue over the next two years with initial findings and recommendations of this group directing future work.

[ Posted by Kathy Kinlaw at September 1, 2001 11:53 AM | More HCECG articles ]

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