Publication
Is it Time to Rethink Pediatric Palliative Care Staffing to Optimize Access?
Porter A, Heneghan C, Snaman J · Journal of Pain and Symptom Management · 2025
Excerpt Over the last three decades, pediatric palliative care (PPC) has become a respected subspecialty service in children’s hospitals across the United States,1 supporting children with serious illness and their families in discerning of goals of care, making goal-concordant complex medical decisions, and coping with diagnosis, prognosis, and uncertainty around both.2 At present, most PPC teams nationally are staffed to provide care during typical business hours, approximately 8 AM to 5 PM, reflecting the rhythm of the hospital day shift. While these hours allow the palliative care team to interface with many parents and family caregivers, parents and other family caregivers who must work to generate income, care for siblings, or depend transportation from others who work daytime hours often cannot be at bedside during this window. In our clinical experience, some parents arrive in the evening after the work day and stay until the early morning or visit only on weekends. Many of these families who cannot be at bedside during the traditional work hours are some of the most under-resourced served by PPC.
Synced from the TRENDS in Pediatric Palliative Care Zotero library, curated by The Siden Research Team. ICPCN does not host or verify the full text.