Palliative Care in the Management of Critically Ill Patients Across the Pediatric Age Spectrum: How, Where, When, Who, and Why?
A Special Issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067) belonging to the section "Pediatric Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine and Palliative Care".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 594
Editors
2. Division of Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Ann & Robert H Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
Interests: lymphoma
2. Department of Oncology, Division of Quality of Life and Palliative Care, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
Interests: pediatric palliative care
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Palliative care arose from the modern hospice movement and was originally focused on the care of adults. However, over the past several decades, there has been a growing body of literature that demonstrates the importance of dedicated pediatric palliative care in children across the age spectrum from prenatal to adolescent and young adults.
The principles of palliative care include holistic care for patients and families focusing on symptom management, optimizing quality of life, communication, assisting with goals of care establishment, end-of-life care where indicated, and grief and bereavement support.
Palliative care can be described as primary (provided by primary healthcare professionals and basic-to-good practice) and specialty for more complex patient needs.
The palliative care professional can also help address the emotional burden on parents and other caregivers by providing guidance in difficult situations and providing care for the moral distress that often accompanies the management of medically complex patients.
Challenges remain in providing an adequate work force, integration of palliative care, ethical issues and providing equitable care to all patients in need of high-quality, evidence-based palliative care.
Prof. Dr. Elaine R. Morgan
Dr. Michael J. McNeil
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- palliative care
- hospice
- critical illness
- symptom management
- quality of life
- end-of-life care
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