Pediatrics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Pediatrics, including details on child development, perinatal medicine, child health care.

Paediatric palliative care: challenges and emerging ideas.

Liben S, Papadatou D, Wolfe J

The Montreal Children's Hospital of the McGill University Health Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Paediatric palliative care is an emerging subspecialty that focuses on achieving the best possible quality of life for children with life-threatening conditions and their families. To achieve this goal, the individuals working in this field need to: clearly define the population served; better understand the needs of children with life-threatening conditions and their families; develop an approach that will be appropriate across different communities; provide care that responds adequately to suffering; advance strategies that support caregivers and health-care providers; and promote needed change by cultivating educational programmes. Despite these challenges, advances in paediatric palliative care have been achieved in a short period of time; we expect far greater progress as the field becomes more formalised and research networks are established.

Published 10 March 2008 in Lancet, 371(9615): 852-64.
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