Differences between Pediatricians and Internists in Advance Care Planning for Adolescents with Cancer

Chinese and Belgian pediatricians' perspectives toward pediatric palliative care: an online survey

BACKGROUND

As pediatricians play a vital role in pediatric palliative care (PPC), understanding their perspectives toward PPC is important. PPC is established for a long time in Belgium, but has a shorter tradition in China, although it is growing in the last decade. Sampling and comparing the perspectives of these pediatricians could be insightful for both countries. Therefore, we sampled and compared perspectives of pediatricians in China and Belgium toward PPC, and explored factors influencing their perspectives.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional online survey using the validated Pediatric Palliative Care Attitude Scale (PPCAS). Over a five-month period, we recruited pediatricians practicing in China (C) and Flanders (F), Belgium. Convenience sampling and snowballing were used. We analyzed data with descriptive statistics, and evaluated group differences with univariate, multivariate and correlation tests.

RESULTS

440 complete surveys were analyzed (F: 115; C: 325). Pediatricians in both regions had limited PPC experience (F: 2.92 ± 0.94; C: 2.76 ± 0.92). Compared to Flemish pediatricians, Chinese pediatricians perceived receiving less unit support (F: 3.42 ± 0.86; C: 2.80 ± 0.89); perceived PPC less important (F: 4.70 ± 0.79; C: 4.18 ± 0.94); and faced more personal obstacles while practicing PPC (F: 3.50 ± 0.76; C: 2.25 ± 0.58). Also, select socio-demographic characteristics (e.g., experiences caring for children with life-threatening condition and providing PPC) influenced pediatricians' perspectives. Correlational analyses revealed that pediatricians' PPC experiences significantly correlated with perceived unit support (ρF = 0.454; ρC=0.661).

CONCLUSIONS

Chinese pediatricians faced more barriers in practicing PPC. Expanding PPC experiences can influence pediatricians' perspectives positively, which may be beneficial for the child and their family.

Current status of pediatric palliative care and decision making in Japan

Specialized pediatric palliative care (PPC) in Japan evolved primarily to care for children with cancer. As a result, the system for providing PPC to pediatric cancer patients is much more advanced than systems for non-cancer patients with life-limiting diseases. About 40% of pediatric cancer patients die at home, while most non-cancer patients die in the hospital under intensive care. In Japan, the wishes of the family tend to precede the children in decision-making for children who lack decision-making capacity. This is true even for adolescents whose medical treatment decisions may not fully reflect the wishes and preferences of the teen patients. There are efforts to empower adolescents to participate in shared decision making.

The Delivery of Palliative and End-of-Life Care to Adolescents and Young Adults Living with Cancer: A Scoping Review

The primary purpose of this scoping review was to provide an overview of the existing evidence on the delivery of palliative and end-of-life care to adolescents and young adults (AYAs) living with cancer, by identifying knowledge gaps and discussing the key characteristics and types of evidence in this field. This study employed a JBI scoping review design. CINAHL (EBSCO), Embase (Elsevier), MEDLINE (Ovid), APA PsycINFO (EBSCO), and Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index; Clarivate Analytics) databases were searched along with grey literature sources to February 2022 for related studies on the delivery of palliative and end-of-life care to AYAs. No search restrictions were applied. Two independent reviewers screened titles, abstracts, and full-text articles for eligibility, and they extracted data from studies that met the inclusion criteria. A total of 29,394 records were identified through our search strategy and 51 studies met the inclusion criteria of the study. The studies were published between 2004 and 2022, with the majority from North America (65%). The included studies involved patient, healthcare provider, caregiver, and public stakeholders. Their primary foci were often on end-of-life outcomes (41%) and/or advance care planning/end-of-life priorities and decision-making (35%). This review identified several evidence gaps within the field, including a focus primarily on patients who have died. Findings highlight the need for more collaborative research with AYAs on their experiences with palliative and end-of-life care, as well as their involvement as patient partners in research.

Physicians' attitudes and experiences about withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatments in pediatrics: a systematic review of quantitative evidence

BACKGROUND

One of the most important and ethically challenging decisions made for children with life-limiting conditions is withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatments (LST). As important (co-)decision-makers in this process, physicians are expected to have deeply and broadly developed views. However, their attitudes and experiences in this area remain difficult to understand because of the diversity of the studies. Hence, the aim of this paper is to describe physicians' attitudes and experiences about withholding/withdrawing LST in pediatrics and to identify the influencing factors.

METHODS

We systematically searched Pubmed, Cinahl®, Embase®, Scopus®, and Web of Science™ in early 2021 and updated the search results in late 2021. Eligible articles were published in English, reported on investigations of physicians' attitudes and experiences about withholding/withdrawing LST for children, and were quantitative.

RESULTS

In 23 included articles, overall, physicians stated that withholding/withdrawing LST can be ethically legitimate for children with life-limiting conditions. Physicians tended to follow parents' and parents-patient's wishes about withholding/withdrawing or continuing LST when they specified treatment preferences. Although most physicians agreed to share decision-making with parents and/or children, they nonetheless reported experiencing both negative and positive feelings during the decision-making process. Moderating factors were identified, including barriers to and facilitators of withholding/withdrawing LST. In general, there was only a limited number of quantitative studies to support the hypothesis that some factors can influence physicians' attitudes and experiences toward LST.

CONCLUSION

Overall, physicians agreed to withhold/withdraw LST in dying patients, followed parent-patients' wishes, and involved them in decision-making. Barriers and facilitators relevant to the decision-making regarding withholding/withdrawing LST were identified. Future studies should explore children's involvement in decision-making and consider barriers that hinder implementation of decisions about withholding/withdrawing LST.

Are We on the Same Page? Exploring Pediatric Patients' Involvement With Advance Care Planning

BACKGROUND

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have a right to be heard. This also applies to patients in pediatric palliative care (PPC). The aim of this literature review was to explore what is known about the involvement of children (<14 years of age), adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in advance care planning (ACP) in PPC.

METHODS

A search was conducted in PubMed including publications from January 1, 2002 until December 31, 2021. The identified citations had to report on ACP or related terms in any PPC context.

RESULTS

A total of n = 471 unique reports were identified. Final inclusion criteria were met by n = 21 reports, including children and AYAs with diagnoses related to oncology, neurology, HIV/AIDS and cystic fibrosis. Nine reports were from randomized controlled studies, investigating ACP methodology. The main findings were: 1) caregivers are included more often than children and adolescents in ACP, 2) some studies indicate an incongruence between AYAs and their caregivers regarding ACP and treatment preferences, 3) although the process evokes a wide range of emotions, ACP is perceived as helpful by many AYAs CONCLUSION: The majority of studies about ACP in PPC do not include children and AYAs. Whether incongruence reported in some studies between AYAs and their caregivers regarding treatment preferences could be reduced by ACP should be further explored, including the involvement of children and adolescents in ACP, and the impact of pediatric ACP on patient outcomes in PPC.

Advance care plan discussion among parents of children with cerebral palsy

AIM

To evaluate parental perception of advance care plan (ACP) discussions in families of Malaysian children with bilateral cerebral palsy (CP) classified in Gross Motor Function Classification System levels IV or V for (1) acceptance of the ACP discussion, (2) feedback on the usefulness of ACP discussion, and (3) exploration of possible factors related to parental acceptance of ACP.

METHOD

This was a prospective pre- and post-ACP discussion questionnaire study for parents of children with bilateral CP.

RESULTS

Sixty-nine patients were recruited to the study; 64 (93%) had at least one additional comorbidity. The median age was 8 years (interquartile range 5 years 1 month-11 years 6 months). Fifty-seven (82.6%) parents found the ACP discussion acceptable, and most reported positive feedback on various components of the discussion (88.4-97.1%). One-third of participants were not comfortable discussing end-of-life care plans. On multivariate analysis, parents who were comfortable discussing end-of-life care plans were more likely to find the ACP discussion acceptable (odds ratio 27.78, 95% confidence interval 2.9-265.1, p = 0.004).

INTERPRETATION

Most parents of Malaysian children with bilateral CP reported the ACP discussion as both acceptable and beneficial. Parents need to be comfortable about discussing end-of-life care plans for their child to enable the ACP discussion to be an acceptable experience.

Physician decision-making process about withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatments in paediatric patients: a systematic review of qualitative evidence

Background

With paediatric patients, deciding whether to withhold/withdraw life-sustaining treatments (LST) at the end of life is difficult and ethically sensitive. Little is understood about how and why physicians decide on withholding/withdrawing LST at the end of life in paediatric patients. In this study, we aimed to synthesise results from the literature on physicians’ perceptions about decision-making when dealing with withholding/withdrawing life-sustaining treatments in paediatric patients.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review of empirical qualitative studies. Five electronic databases (Pubmed, Cinahl®, Embase®, Scopus®, Web of Science™) were exhaustively searched in order to identify articles published in English from inception through March 17, 2021. Analysis and synthesis were guided by the Qualitative Analysis Guide of Leuven.

Results

Thirty publications met our criteria and were included for analysis. Overall, we found that physicians agreed to involve parents, and to a lesser extent, children in the decision-making process about withholding/withdrawing LST. Our analysis to identify conceptual schemes revealed that physicians divided their decision-making into three stages: (1) early preparation via advance care planning, (2) information giving and receiving, and (3) arriving at the final decision. Physicians considered advocating for the best interests of the child and of the parents as their major focus. We also identified moderating factors of decision-making, such as facilitators and barriers, specifically those related to physicians and parents that influenced physicians’ decision-making.

Conclusions

By focusing on stakeholders, structure of the decision-making process, ethical values, and influencing factors, our analysis showed that physicians generally agreed to share the decision-making with parents and the child, especially for adolescents. Further research is required to better understand how to minimise the negative impact of barriers on the decision-making process (e.g., difficult involvement of children, lack of paediatric palliative care expertise, conflict with parents).

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12904-022-01003-5.

Withholding and withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments for neonate in Japan: Are hospital practices associated with physicians' beliefs, practices, or perceived barriers?

OBJECTIVE

To describe the current status of withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining interventions (LSI) for neonates in Japan and to identify physician- and institutional-related factors that may affect advance care planning (ACP) practices with parents.

STUDY DESIGN

A self-reported questionnaire was administered to assess frequency of withholding and withdrawing intensive care at the respondent's facility, the physician's degree of affirming various beliefs about end-of-life care that was compared to 7 European countries, their self-reported ACP practices and perceived barriers to ACP. Three neonatologists at all 298 facilities accredited by the Japan Society for Neonatal Health and Development were surveyed, with 572 neonatologists at 217 facilities responding.

RESULTS

At 76% of facilities, withdrawing intensive care treatments was "never" done, while withholding intensive care had been done "sometimes" or more frequently at 82% of facilities. Japanese neonatologists differed from European neonatologists regarding their degree of affirmation of 3 out of 7 queried beliefs about end-of-life care. In hospitals that were more likely to "sometimes" (or more often) withdraw treatments, respondents were less likely to affirm beliefs about doing "everything possible" or providing the "maximum of intensive care". Self-reported ACP practices did not vary between neonatologists based on their hospital's overall pattern of withholding or withdrawing treatments.

CONCLUSION

Among NICU facilities in Japan, 21% had been sometimes withdrawing LSI and 82% had been "sometimes" withholding LSI. Institutional treatment practices may have a strong association with physicians' beliefs that then affect end-of-life discussions, but not with self-reported ACP practices.

The engagement of young people in their own advance care planning process: A systematic narrative synthesis

BACKGROUND

An increasing number of young people are living with life-limiting conditions. Current research about advance care planning for young people indicates differing experiences for those involved. Understanding how far young people are engaged in their own advance care plan is important to shape future practice and facilitate young people's wishes.

AIM

To identify and assess the current evidence to determine the barriers and facilitators to the engagement of young people in their own advance care planning process.

DESIGN

A systematic narrative synthesis according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Study quality was assessed using a quality assessment framework previously used in similar research.

DATA SOURCES

CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE, PubMed and PsycINFO were searched for articles published between 1 January 1990 and 31 October 2017. Grey literature was searched using Google Scholar and Open Grey.

RESULTS

Most studies related to the engagement of young people were conducted in hospitals or other institutions. Research reported not only the aim to include young people in their own advance care planning but also potential barriers to engagement. Barriers include poor communication, conflict within relationships of those in the planning process and patchy education and training for healthcare professionals. Some existing studies are characterised by a lack of rigorous, high-quality research, limiting their impact.

CONCLUSION

Irrespective of setting, engagement of young people would benefit their advance care planning. More detailed, high-quality research is needed to understand the extent of the barriers to young people's engagement in their own advance care plan and how to facilitate their involvement.

Japanese physicians' attitudes toward end-of-life discussion with pediatric patients with cancer

PURPOSE

We explored pediatricians' practices and attitudes concerning end-of-life discussions (EOLds) with pediatric patients with cancer, and identified the determinants of pediatricians' positive attitude toward having EOLds with pediatric patients.

METHODS

A multicenter questionnaire survey was conducted with 127 pediatricians specializing in the treatment of pediatric cancer.

RESULTS

Forty-two percent of participants reported that EOLds should be held with the young group of children (6-9 years old), 68% with the middle group (10-15 years old), and 93% with the old group (16-18 years old). Meanwhile, 6, 20, and 35% of participants answered that they "always" or "usually" discussed the incurability of the disease with the young, middle, and old groups, respectively; for the patient's imminent death, the rates were 2, 11, and 24%. Pediatricians' attitude that they "should have" EOLds with the young group was predicted by more clinical experience (odds ratio [OR] 1.077; p = 0.007), more confidence in addressing children's anxiety after EOLd (OR 1.756; p = 0.050), weaker belief in the demand for EOLd (OR 0.456; p = 0.015), weaker belief in the necessity of the EOLd for children to enjoy their time until death (OR, 0.506; p = 0.021), and weaker belief in the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the parents (OR 0.381; p = 0.025).

CONCLUSIONS

While pediatricians nearly reached consensus on EOLds for the old group, EOLds with the young group remain a controversial subject. While pediatricians who supported EOLds believed in their effectiveness or necessity, those who were against EOLds tended to consider the benefits of not engaging in them.

Advance care planning for adolescent patients with life-threatening neurological conditions: a survey of Japanese paediatric neurologists

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate current attitudes and barriers to advance care planning for adolescent patients with life-threatening conditions among paediatric neurologists.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study. A self-reported questionnaire was administered to assess the practice of advance care planning, advance directives and barriers to advance care planning for adolescent patients with life-threatening conditions. All board-certified paediatric neurologists in Japan were surveyed and those who had experience in taking care of adolescent patients with decision-making capacity were analysed. We compared the results with those of paediatric haematologists reported previously.

RESULTS

In total, 186 paediatric neurologists were analysed. If the patient's prognosis was <3 months, only about 30% of paediatric neurologists reported having discussions with patients, such as 'do not attempt resuscitation' orders (28%) and ventilator use (32%), whereas more than 70% did discuss these topics with patients' families. About half of the paediatric neurologists did not discuss advance directives at the end of life with their patients, whereas over 75% did discuss advance directives with patients' families. Compared with paediatric haematologists, paediatric neurologists had more end-of-life discussions with patients, such as where treatment and care will take place, do not attempt resuscitation orders, and the use of a ventilator, if the patient's prognosis was >1 year.

CONCLUSION

About half or less of the paediatric neurologists discussed advance care planning and advance directives with their adolescent patients who had life-threatening conditions, even if the patient's prognosis was <3 months. They tended to discuss advance care planning and advance directives more with families than with patients themselves.