Geographic Information Systems Utilization in Pediatric End-of-Life Research: A Scoping Review

Currently, little is known about how geographic information systems (GIS) has been utilized to study end-of-life care in pediatric populations. The purpose of this review was to collect and examine the existing evidence on how GIS methods have been used in pediatric end-of-life research over the last 20 years. Scoping review method was used to summarize existing evidence and inform research methods and clinical practice was used. The Preferred Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA) was utilized. The search resulted in a final set of 17 articles. Most studies created maps for data visualization and used ArcGIS as the primary software for analysis. The scoping review revealed that GIS methodology has been limited to mapping, but that there is a significant opportunity to expand the use of this methodology for pediatric end-of-life care research.

Understanding Adult Hospices Caring for Children in California, 2018-2021

In areas where there are absences of pediatric hospice care, adult hospices are often asked to provide hospice care for children. Little is known about these adult hospices. The purpose of our study was to describe the characteristics of adult hospices in California that provided care to children from 2018 to 2021. Using public data from the California Home Health Agencies and Hospice Annual Utilization Report, we conducted a longitudinal, retrospective descriptive study to examine the effects of hospice characteristics on adult hospices which provide care to children. Market, mission, operational, and financial characteristics were measured via the California utilization data using descriptive statistics. Service area was measured via latitude and longitude public data. Hospice location maps were generated for year 2018 and year 2021. The 148 hospices in the study had distinct organizational profiles, mainly small, with broad service coverage areas, in rural and urban communities with predominantly nurses visiting children. There was a significant decline (32%) in availability of adult hospices caring for children between 2018 and 2021, particularly in northern California. Hospice economics, lack of familiarity with Medicaid, and staff comfortability with caring for children in hospice, were not driving this decline. Our study provides critical insight into the characteristics of adult hospices in California providing care for children and has important policy implications.

Racial Disparities in the Provision of Pediatric Psychosocial End-of-Life Services: A Systematic Review

Background: When compared with White patients, racial and ethnic minorities experience greater barriers to quality end-of-life care. Each year, approximately 52,000 children die in the United States, yet little is known about the disparities in pediatric palliative care, especially when looking at psychosocial palliative care services such as those provided by child life specialists, social workers, and pediatric psychologists. Objectives: In an effort to consolidate and synthesize the literature on this topic for psychosocial professionals working with children and families confronting a life-threatening diagnosis, a review was conducted. Design: This work was a systematic review of several academic databases that were searched from January 2000 to December 2020 for studies exploring disparities in pediatric end-of-life services and written in English. Setting/Subjects: This review was conducted in the United States. The search yielded 109 articles, of which 16 were included for review. Measurements: Three psychosocial researchers independently reviewed, critically appraised, and synthesized the results. Results: Emerging themes from the literature (n = 16) include service enrollment, decision making, and communication. Results highlight a lack of research discussing psychosocial variables and the provision of psychosocial services. Despite this gap, authors were able to extract recommendations relevant to psychosocial providers from the medical-heavy literature. Conclusions: Recommendations call for more research specific to possible disparities in psychosocial care as this is vital to support families of all backgrounds who are confronting the difficulties of pediatric loss.

Physician Perspectives on Palliative Care for Children with Advanced Heart Disease: A Comparison between Pediatric Cardiology and Palliative Care Physicians

BACKGROUND

While the importance of pediatric palliative care (PPC) for children with life-threatening illness is increasingly recognized, little is known about physicians' attitudes toward palliative care for children with heart disease.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the perspectives of PPC physicians and pediatric cardiologists regarding palliative care in pediatric heart disease.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional web-based surveys.

RESULTS

Responses from 183 pediatric cardiologists were compared to those of 49 PPC physicians (response rates 31% [183/589] and 28% [49/175], respectively). Forty-eight percent of PPC physicians and 63% of pediatric cardiologists agreed that availability of PPC is adequate (p = 0.028). The majority of both groups indicated that PPC consultation occurs "too late." Compared with pediatric cardiologists, PPC physicians reported greater competence in all areas of advance care planning, communication, and symptom management. PPC physicians more often described obstacles to PPC consultation as "many" or "numerous" (42% vs. 7%, p < 0.001). PPC physicians overestimated how much pediatric cardiologists worry about PPC introducing inconsistency in approach (60% vs. 11%, p < 0.001), perceive lack of added value from PPC (30% vs. 7%, p < 0.001), believe that PPC involvement will undermine parental hope (65% vs. 44%, p = 0.003), and perceive that PPC is poorly accepted by parents (53% vs. 27%, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

There are significant differences between pediatric cardiologists and PPC physicians in perception of palliative care involvement and perceived barriers to PPC consultation. An intervention that targets communication and exchange of expertise between PPC and pediatric cardiology could improve care for children with heart disease.

Patterns and Outcomes of Care in Children With Advanced Heart Disease Receiving Palliative Care Consultation

CONTEXT

Although access to subspecialty pediatric palliative care (PPC) is increasing, little is known about the role of PPC for children with advanced heart disease (AHD).

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to examine features of subspecialty PPC involvement for children with AHD.

METHODS

This is a retrospective single-institution medical record review of patients with a primary diagnosis of AHD for whom the PPC team was initially consulted between 2011 and 2016.

RESULTS

Among 201 patients, 87% had congenital/structural heart disease, the remainder having acquired/nonstructural heart disease. Median age at initial PPC consultation was 7.7 months (range 1 day-28.8 years). Of the 92 patients who were alive at data collection, 73% had received initial consultation over one year before. Most common indications for consultation were goals of care (80%) and psychosocial support (54%). At initial consultation, most families (67%) expressed that their primary goal was for their child to live as long and as comfortably as possible. Among deceased patients (n = 109), median time from initial consultation to death was 33 days (range 1 day-3.6 years), and children whose families expressed that their primary goal was for their child to live as comfortably as possible were less likely to die in the intensive care unit (P = 0.03) and more likely to die in the setting of comfort care or withdrawal of life-sustaining interventions (P = 0.008).

CONCLUSION

PPC involvement for children with AHD focuses on goals of care and psychosocial support. Findings suggest that PPC involvement at end of life supports goal-concordant care. Further research is needed to clarify the impact of PPC on patient outcomes.

Exhaust All Measures: Ethical Issues in Pediatric End-of-Life Care

The death of a child may have a profound impact on parents, family members, and health care providers who provided care for the child. Unique challenges are faced by parents of seriously ill children as they must serve as the legal authority for health care decisions of children under age 18, although the child's wishes must also be considered. Social workers must balance core social work values, bioethical values, and psychosocial issues presented by such situations. While studies have been conducted with physicians and nurses regarding ethical issues in pediatric end-of-life care settings, little is known about how social workers experience these conflicts. This article utilizes two vignettes to illustrate potential ethical issues in this setting and applies the National Association of Social Workers Standards for Palliative and End of Life Care (NASW, 2004 ) to explore options for their resolution. These vignettes provide descriptions of possible reactions in this setting and can be used as a basis for further exploration of ethics in pediatric end-of-life care from a social work perspective.

Determinants of Hospital Death for Taiwanese Pediatric Cancer Decedents, 2001-2010

CONTEXT

Factors influencing pediatric cancer patients' place of death may have evolved with advances in medical and hospice care since earlier studies were done.

OBJECTIVES

To comprehensively analyze factors associated with hospital death in an unbiased population of pediatric cancer patients in Taiwan.

METHODS

This was a retrospective cohort study using administrative data for 1603 Taiwanese pediatric cancer patients who died in 2001-2010. Place of death was hypothesized to be associated with 1) patient sociodemographics and disease characteristics, 2) primary physician's specialty, 3) characteristics and health care resources at both the hospital and regional levels, and 4) historical trends.

RESULTS

Most Taiwanese pediatric cancer patients (87.4%) died in an acute care hospital. The probability of dying in hospital increased slightly over time, reaching significance only in 2009 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 95% CI: 2.84 [1.32-6.11]). Children were more likely to die in an acute care hospital if they resided in the most urbanized area, were diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma (2.32 [1.39-3.87]), and received care from a pediatrician (1.58 [1.01-2.47]) in a nonprofit proprietary hospital (1.50 [1.01-2.24]) or large hospital, reaching significance for the third quartile (2.57 [1.28-5.18]) of acute care hospital beds.

CONCLUSION

Taiwanese pediatric cancer patients predominantly died in an acute care hospital with a slightly increasing trend of shifting place of death from home to hospital. Propensity for hospital death was determined by residential urbanization level, diagnosis, primary physician's specialty, and the primary hospital's characteristics and health care resources. Clinical interventions and health policies should ensure that resources are allocated to allow pediatric cancer patients to die in the place they and their parents prefer to achieve a good death and promote their parents' bereavement adjustment.

Physician Communication in Pediatric End-of-Life Care: A Simulation Study

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this exploratory study is to describe communication between physicians and the actor parent of a standardized 8-year-old patient in respiratory distress who was nearing the end of life.

METHODS

Thirteen pediatric emergency medicine and pediatric critical care fellows and attendings participated in a high-fidelity simulation to assess physician communication with an actor-parent.

RESULTS

Fifteen percent of the participants decided not to initiate life-sustaining technology (intubation), and 23% of participants offered alternatives to life-sustaining care, such as comfort measures. Although 92% of the participants initiated an end-of-life conversation, the quality of that discussion varied widely.

CONCLUSION

Findings indicate that effective physician-parent communication may not consistently occur in cases involving the treatment of pediatric patients at the end of life in emergency and critical care units.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The findings in this study, particularly that physician-parent end-of-life communication is often unclear and that alternatives to life-sustaining technology are often not offered, suggest that physicians need more training in both communication and end-of-life care.

Spirituality in HIV-infected adolescents and their families: FAmily CEntered (FACE) Advance Care Planning and medication adherence

PURPOSE

To explore the effect of spirituality and religious beliefs on FAmily CEntered (FACE) Advance Care Planning and medication adherence among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive adolescents and their surrogate decision-makers.

METHODS

A sample of HIV-positive adolescents (n = 40) and their surrogates, aged ≥ 21 years, (n = 40), was randomized to an active Healthy Living Control group or the FACE Advance Care Planning intervention, guided by transactional stress and coping theory. Adolescents' spirituality and their belief that HIV is a punishment from God were assessed at baseline and 3 months after the intervention, using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well Being Scale, Expanded, Version 4.

RESULTS

Control adolescents increased faith and meaning/purpose more than FACE adolescents (p = .02). At baseline, more behaviorally infected adolescents (16%) believed that HIV was a punishment from God as compared with those who were infected perinatally (8%). Adolescents endorsing that HIV was a punishment scored lower on spirituality (p = .05) and adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) (p = .04). Surrogates were more spiritual than adolescents (p ≤ .0001).

CONCLUSION

Providing family support in a friendly, facilitated environment enhanced spirituality among adolescents. Facilitated family conversations had an especially positive effect on medication adherence and spiritual beliefs among behaviorally infected adolescents.