Pediatric Palliative Care Program Improves Communication, Reduces Patient Suffering, and Helps Parents Feel More Prepared for Child's End-of-Life Experience

Pediatric Palliative Care Program Improves Communication, Reduces Patient Suffering, and Helps Parents Feel More Prepared for Child's End-of-Life Experience

Snapshot
Summary
The Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT), a joint project of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston, is a pediatric palliative care consultation service that addresses the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs of children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. PACT services focus on providing intensive symptom management as well as honest, complete, and sensitive communication with patients and families; other PACT activities include clinician education about, and development of institutional improvements in, palliative care. A retrospective cohort study found that PACT improved communication and documentation related to end-of-life care, helped ease patient suffering at the end of life, and helped parents feel more prepared for their child’s end-of-life experience.

See the Description section for new information about PACT's Interdisciplinary Pediatric Palliative Care Fellowship; the Staffing section for new staffing information; and the Results section for updated information about program growth as well as new family and provider satisfaction survey data (updated October 2009).

Evidence Rating
Moderate: The evidence consists of before-and-after comparisons of key outcomes, including levels of communication and documentation, parental perceptions of their child's suffering, and parental preparation for their child's end-of-life experience.


Developing Organizations
Children's Hospital Boston; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

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