First name
Sarah
Last name
Friebert

Title

Pediatric palliative care parents' distress, financial difficulty, and child symptoms.

Year of Publication

2021

Number of Pages

Date Published

2021 Aug 20

ISSN Number

1873-6513

Abstract

<p><strong>CONTEXT: </strong>Parents of patients with a serious illness experience psychological distress, which impacts parents' wellbeing and, potentially, their ability to care for their children. Parent psychological distress may be influenced by children's symptom burden and by families' financial difficulty.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVES: </strong>This study examined the associations among parent psychological distress, parent-reported patient symptoms, and financial difficulty, seeking to determine the relative association of financial difficulty and of patient symptoms to parent psychological distress.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>Cross-sectional study of baseline data for 601 parents of 532 pediatric palliative care patients enrolled in a prospective cohort study conducted at seven US children's hospitals. Data included self-reported parent psychological distress and parent report of child's symptoms and family financial difficulty. We used ordinary least squares multiple regressions to examine the association between psychological distress and symptom score, between psychological distress and financial difficulty, and whether the degree of financial difficulty modified the relationship between psychological distress and symptom score.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>The majority of parents were moderately distressed (52%) or severely distressed (17%) and experienced some degree of financial difficulty (65%). While children's symptom scores and family financial difficulty together explained more of the variance in parental psychological distress than either variable alone, parental distress was associated more strongly, and to a larger degree, with financial difficulty than with symptom scores alone.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Parent psychological distress was associated with parent-reported patient symptoms and financial difficulty. Future work should examine these relationships longitudinally, and whether interventions to improve symptom management and ameliorate financial difficulties improve parental outcomes.</p>

DOI

10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.08.004

Alternate Title

J Pain Symptom Manage

PMID

34425212
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Title

Polysymptomatology in Pediatric Patients Receiving Palliative Care Based on Parent-Reported Data.

Year of Publication

2021

Number of Pages

e2119730

Date Published

2021 Aug 02

ISSN Number

2574-3805

Abstract

<p><strong>Importance: </strong>Pediatric palliative care treats patients with a wide variety of advanced illness conditions, often with substantial levels of pain and other symptoms. Clinical and research advancements regarding symptom management for these patients are hampered by the scarcity of data on symptoms as well as an overreliance on clinician report.</p>

<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To provide a detailed description of the symptoms among patients receiving pediatric palliative care based on parental report via a validated, structured symptom assessment measure.</p>

<p><strong>Design, Setting, and Participants: </strong>Baseline data for this cross-sectional analysis were collected between April 10, 2017, and February 5, 2020, from pediatric palliative care programs in 7 children's hospitals located in Akron, Ohio; Boston, Massachusetts; Birmingham, Alabama; Houston, Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington. Data were collected in the hospital, outpatient, and home setting from patients 30 years of age or younger who were receiving pediatric palliative care at 1 of the study sites.</p>

<p><strong>Exposures: </strong>Analyses were stratified by patients' demographic characteristics, including age, and by whether the patients had received a diagnosis of any of 10 non-mutually exclusive complex chronic condition categories.</p>

<p><strong>Main Outcomes and Measures: </strong>Twenty symptoms measured via the modified Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale, which scores the frequency and severity of any symptom that is present and provides a total symptom score.</p>

<p><strong>Results: </strong>Among the first 501 patients enrolled, the median age was 4.1 years (interquartile range, 0.8-12.9 years), 267 (53.3%) were male, and 356 (71.1%) were White. The most prevalent complex chronic conditions included gastrointestinal (357 [71.3%]), neurologic (289 [57.7%]), and cardiovascular (310 [61.9%]) conditions; 438 patients (87.4%) were technology dependent. Parents reported a mean (SD) of 6.7 (3.4) symptoms per patient and a median of 7 symptoms (interquartile range, 4-9 symptoms). A total of 367 patients (73.3%) had 5 or more symptoms. The 5 most prevalent symptoms were pain (319 [63.7%]; 95% CI, 59.4%-67.8%), lack of energy (295 [58.9%]; 95% CI, 54.5%-63.1%), irritability (280 [55.9%]; 95% CI, 51.5%-60.2%), drowsiness (247 [49.3%]; 95% CI, 44.9%-53.7%), and shortness of breath (232 [46.3%]; 95% CI, 41.9%-50.7%). Although older patients were reported by parents as having experienced more symptoms and having higher total symptom scores, variation across condition categories was relatively minor. Patients in the upper 10th percentile of total symptom scores had a median of 12.0 symptoms (interquartile range, 11-13).</p>

<p><strong>Conclusions and Relevance: </strong>In this cross-sectional study, most children receiving palliative care were experiencing polysymptomatology. An important subgroup of patients frequently experienced numerous severe symptoms. Assessment and management of patients with polysymptomatology are critical aspects of pediatric palliative care.</p>

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.19730

Alternate Title

JAMA Netw Open

PMID

34351400
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Title

Prioritization of Pediatric Palliative Care Field-Advancement Activities in the United States: Results of a National Survey.

Year of Publication

2021

Number of Pages

Date Published

2021 Jan 21

ISSN Number

1873-6513

Abstract

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>The field of pediatric palliative care (PPC) continues to encounter challenges and opportunities to improving access to high-quality PPC services. In early 2019, a workshop identified eleven potential "next step" actions, and subsequently a national survey-based poll of members of the PPC community was conducted to prioritize these potential actions in terms of their "actionable importance."</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>Invitations to the survey were distributed in October 2019 to interdisciplinary PPC health care professionals via email to two major listservs, one hosted by the Section of Hospice and Palliative Medicine of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the other by the Center to Advance Palliative Care. Respondents rated the "actionable importance" of items relative to each other via a discrete choice experiment. Median importance scores are reported for each item.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>177 individuals responded to the survey. The majority (62.2%) were physicians, with nurses (16.4%), advanced practice nurses (7.9%), and social workers (7.3%) being the other most common responders. The top 5 potential actions, in descending rank order, were: Determine what parents value regarding PPC (median score of 17.8, out of a total score of all items of 100); Define and disseminate core primary PPC curriculum (median, 15.3); Develop PPC national representation strategy and tactics (median, 12.3); Create PPC-specific program development toolkit (median, 10.9); and, Analyze payment and financing ratios (median, 9.6).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Those seeking to advance the field of PPC should take into account the findings from this study, which suggest that certain actions are more likely to have a beneficial impact on moving the field forward.</p>

DOI

10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2021.01.007

Alternate Title

J Pain Symptom Manage

PMID

33485936
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Title

Pediatric palliative care programs in children's hospitals: a cross-sectional national survey.

Year of Publication

2013

Number of Pages

1063-70

Date Published

12/2013

ISSN Number

1098-4275

Abstract

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>Pediatric palliative care (PPC) programs facilitate the provision of comprehensive care to seriously ill children. Over the past 10 years many such programs have been initiated by children's hospitals, but little is known about their number, staff composition, services offered, sources of support, or national distribution.</p>

<p><strong>METHODS: </strong>In the summer of 2012, we surveyed 226 hospitals as identified by the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions. The survey instrument gathered data about whether their institution had a PPC program, and for hospitals with programs, it asked for a wide range of information including staffing, patient age range, services provided, and financial support.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Of the 162 hospitals that provided data (71.7% response rate), 69% reported having a PPC program. The rate of new program creation peaked in 2008, with 12 new programs created that year, and 10 new programs in 2011. Most programs offer only inpatient services, and most only during the work week. The number of consults per year varied substantially across programs, and was positively associated with hospital bed size and number of funded staff members. PPC programs report a high level of dependence on hospital funding.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>PPC programs are becoming common in children's hospitals throughout the United States yet with marked variation in how these programs are staffed, the level of funding for staff effort to provide PPC, and the number of consultations performed annually. Guidelines for PPC team composition, funding, and consultation standards may be warranted to ensure the highest quality of PPC.</p>

DOI

10.1542/peds.2013-1286

Alternate Title

Pediatrics

PMID

24190689
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Title

Pediatric palliative care patients: a prospective multicenter cohort study.

Year of Publication

2011

Number of Pages

1094-101

Date Published

06/2011

ISSN Number

1098-4275

Abstract

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>To describe demographic and clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients who received hospital-based pediatric palliative care (PPC) consultations.</p>

<p><strong>DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: </strong>Prospective observational cohort study of all patients served by 6 hospital-based PPC teams in the United States and Canada from January to March 2008.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>There were 515 new (35.7%) or established (64.3%) patients who received care from the 6 programs during the 3-month enrollment interval. Of these, 54.0% were male, and 69.5% were identified as white and 8.1% as Hispanic. Patient age ranged from less than one month (4.7%) to 19 years or older (15.5%). Of the patients, 60.4% lived with both parents, and 72.6% had siblings. The predominant primary clinical conditions were genetic/congenital (40.8%), neuromuscular (39.2%), cancer (19.8%), respiratory (12.8%), and gastrointestinal (10.7%). Most patients had chronic use of some form of medical technology, with gastrostomy tubes (48.5%) being the most common. At the time of consultation, 47.2% of the patients had cognitive impairment; 30.9% of the cohort experienced pain. Patients were receiving many medications (mean: 9.1). During the 12-month follow-up, 30.3% of the cohort died; the median time from consult to death was 107 days. Patients who died within 30 days of cohort entry were more likely to be infants and have cancer or cardiovascular conditions.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>PPC teams currently serve a diverse cohort of children and young adults with life-threatening conditions. In contrast to the reported experience of adult-oriented palliative care teams, most PPC patients are alive for more than a year after initiating PPC.</p>

DOI

10.1542/peds.2010-3225

Alternate Title

Pediatrics

PMID

21555495
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Title

Research Priorities in Pediatric Palliative Care.

Year of Publication

2015

Number of Pages

467-70.e3

Date Published

08/2015

ISSN Number

1097-6833

Abstract

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>To synthesize the perspectives of a broad range of pediatric palliative care (PPC) clinicians and parents, to formulate a consensus on prioritization of the PPC research agenda.</p>

<p><strong>STUDY DESIGN: </strong>A 4-round modified Delphi online survey was administered to PPC experts and to parents of children who had received PPC. In round 1, research priorities were generated spontaneously. Rounds 2 and 3 then served as convergence rounds to synthesize priorities. In round 4, participants were asked to rank the research priorities that had reached at least 80% consensus.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>A total of 3093 concepts were spontaneously generated by 170 experts and 72 parents in round 1 (65.8% response rate [RR]). These concepts were thematically organized into 78 priorities and recirculated for round 2 ratings (n = 130; 53.7% RR). Round 3 achieved response stability, with 31 consensus priorities oscillating within 10% of the mode (n = 98; 75.4% RR). Round 4 resulted in consensus recognition of 20 research priorities, which were thematically grouped as decision making, care coordination, symptom management, quality improvement, and education.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>This modified Delphi survey used professional and parental consensus to identify preeminent PPC research priorities. Attentiveness to these priorities may help direct resources and efforts toward building a formative evidence base. Investigating PPC implementation approaches and outcomes can help improve the quality of care services for children and families.</p>

DOI

10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.05.002

Alternate Title

J. Pediatr.

PMID

26028284
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