Palliative care includes any intervention that focuses on relieving suffering, slowing the progression of a disease, and improving quality of life at any stage of the disease. In addition, for even the child with the most unpredictable disease, there are predictable times in this child’s life when the child, family, and care team will be suffering in ways that can be mitigated by specific interventions. Palliative care can best be understood as a specific set of tasks directed at mitigating suffering.
Palliative care has always been a part of the care of children. Whether there is a discussion about end-of-life care, effective pain prevention, and management, or communication and decision-making in difficult circumstances, the pediatrician is asked to help children and families with palliative tasks daily. In these situations, fostering a more developed understanding of the principles…
