Palliative care

 

BC Children’s Hospital believes that pediatric hospice palliative care should be available to all children with life-limiting conditions and their families. It should be available throughout their illness experience, depending on their needs and expectations, and when they are prepared to accept care. BC Children’s supports this definition of pediatric palliative care.

Life-limiting conditions fall into two broad categories

• Diseases that can sometimes be cured, but the curative treatment is not working.
• Diseases that have no cure yet, and all treatment is symptomatic. These include conditions where the child is not likely to live into full adulthood, at the age when most people are independent (usually in their 20’s).

Our process

We provide palliative care for infants, children and youth with life-limiting conditions any time between birth and transition to adult care. We also provide prenatal counseling in coordination with the Maternal Fetal Medicine service at BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre.

Children, their families, and health care professionals work together to make decisions regarding treatment and care options. Palliative care treatments can be provided simultaneously with curative therapies; the teams work together with families to set goals.

Learn more about

• Curative & palliative care model
• Symptom management and end of life care
• Bereavement care
• Parent education

Definition of Pediatric Hospice Palliative Care

“Pediatric hospice palliative care is an active, holistic approach to care which focuses on relieving
the physical, social, psychological and spiritual suffering experienced by children and families
who face a progressive, life-threatening condition, and helping them fulfill their physical,
psychological, social and spiritual goals. Its philosophy is to provide optimal comfort and quality
of life, and sustain hope and family connection despite the likelihood of death. Pediatric hospice
palliative care aims to provide comprehensive care for children and their families through the
living, dying and grieving processes. It affirms life and regards dying as a process that is a
profoundly personal experience for the child and family.

Pediatric hospice palliative care is planned and delivered collaboratively by an interdisciplinary
team. It is a child and family centred approach to care that is based on shared decision-making
and sensitivity to the family’s cultural and spiritual values, beliefs and practices.” (Adapted from
the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association, Pediatric Palliative Care Principles and Norms of Practice (March 2006), and Precepts of Palliative Care for Children/Adolescents and Their Families, 2003).

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Updated on: February 3, 2010