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Palliative Medicine, Vol. 20, No. 4, 433-437 (2006)
DOI: 10.1191/0269216306pm1147oa

Paediatric palliative care delivered by an adult palliative care service

Norma O’Leary

St Francis Hospice, Dublin, normaoleary{at}hotmail.com

J Flynn

St Francis Hospice, Dublin

A MacCallion

St Francis Hospice, Dublin

E Walsh

St Francis Hospice, Dublin

Regina McQuillan

St Francis Hospice, Dublin

Background: In recent years, the discipline of paediatric palliative care has emerged in response to the awareness of the distinct needs of dying children. To date, in Ireland there is no paediatrician trained in palliative medicine, and specialist paediatric palliative care is generally delivered by adult trained teams. Aims: We wished to examine the experience of an adult palliative care service providing palliative care to children. Methods: The study entailed three stages: (1) a retrospective chart review of all children referred to the service; (2) a questionnaire survey; and (3) a focus group to explore the views of staff in caring for children. Results: The main themes highlighted were staff competence, staff stress, uncertainty of prognosis, resource implications and co-operation with other teams. Conclusion: This study highlights some of the challenges for an adult palliative care team providing paediatric palliative care. Many skills developed for adult patients can be used in paediatric palliative care. Adult palliative care teams and paediatric teams have complementary skills. The challenge is to integrate services to meet the needs of terminally ill children.

Key Words: children • homecare service • palliative care • paediatrics • service development • symptom control


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 Qual Health ResHome page
J. Clarke and S. Quin
Professional Carers' Experiences of Providing a Pediatric Palliative Care Service in Ireland
Qual Health Res, November 1, 2007; 17(9): 1219 - 1231.
[Abstract] [PDF]