Publication
Knowledge, comfort, and practice of palliative care by child neurologists
Sato A, Anspacher A, LaFond D, Chang T · Annals of Neurology · 2017
Objective: Child neurologists regularly care for patients with serious illness; however, most receive no formal training in basic palliative care skills. We aimed to improve child neurology providers' knowledge, comfort, and integrated practice of palliative care through an educational workshop. Methods: A prospective study was conducted at Children's National Health System, a tertiary pediatric facility with an established palliative care program. Fifty pediatric neurology faculty and fellows were invited to participate in a survey prior to and after an educational workshop on palliative care evaluating their knowledge, comfort, and practice. Results: There were 27 workshop participants, 17 attendings, 4 mid-level practitioners, and 6 fellows, who were self-identified as primarily-inpatient(9) or primarily-outpatient(18) providers. None had ever received formal education on palliative care within neurology. General awareness was high prior to and after the workshop at 93% and 94%, respectively. 52% were "comfortable" or "very comfortable" integrating palliative care which increased to 100% after the workshop. Primarily-inpatient providers did not report a plan to change practice in discussing advanced directives/goals of care (40-56%) or in referring to palliative care (70-81%). However, primarily-outpatient providers reported an increase in both (48% to 90% and 41% to 90%, respectively). Common reasons to not discuss goals of care or refer to palliative care were lack of severity of illness or insufficient time. Insufficient knowledge was reported in 40% only prior to the workshop. Conclusions: Formal education and infrastructure support in palliative care may be beneficial in the clinical practice of child neurology providers, particularly those in an outpatient setting.
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.