Principles of palliative care
- Principles of palliative care
- The World health Organization amended the definitive of palliative care for children to include the following:
- Palliative care for children is the active total care of the child’s body, mind, and spirit and involves giving support to the family.
- It begins when illness is diagnosed and continues regardless of whether or not a child receives treatment directed at the disease.
- Health care providers must evaluate and alleviate the child’s physical, psychologic, and social distress.
- Effective palliative care requires a broad multidisciplinary approach that includes the family and makes use of available community resources; it can be successfully implemented even if resources are limited.
- It can be provided in tertiary care facilities, in community health centers, and even in children’s homes.
- Pain and symptom management
- The World health Organization amended the definitive of palliative care for children to include the following:
- Decision-making at end of life
- Ethical considerations
- Physicians, health care team
- Parents
- The dying child
- Children’s understanding of and reactions to death