Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Prognostication in Children

Changing the Landscape of the Neighborhood: The Expanding Role of the Pediatric Palliative Advanced Practice Registered Nurse

There is a dearth of information on the role of the pediatric palliative advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) reported in the literature, and yet, the role is expanding. Advances in technology and health care are helping children with medical complexity live longer, and the demand for pediatric palliative care is growing. As programs expand to meet this need, there are new opportunities for pediatric palliative APRNs to practice outside acute care consultative models, within large children's hospitals. The aim of this article was to describe the expanding role of the pediatric palliative APRN using a progressive case study that describes how these expanding roles can collaborate using evidence-based practice and expert consensus to define their roles. If pediatric palliative APRNs hesitate to define their practice, others will define it for them.

The Role of Palliative Care in Cardiovascular Disease

The American Heart Association has recommended that palliative care be integrated into the care of all patients with advanced cardiac illnesses. Notwithstanding, the number of patients receiving specialist palliative intervention worldwide remains extremely small. This review examines the nature of palliative care and what is known about its delivery to patients with cardiac illness. Most of the published literature on the subject concern advanced heart failure; however, some data also exist regarding patients with heart transplantation, pulmonary hypertension, valvular disease, congenital heart disease, indwelling devices, mechanical circulatory support, and advanced coronary disease. In addition, outcome data, certification requirements, workforce challenges, barriers to implementation, and a potential caveat about palliative care will also be examined. Further work is required regarding appropriate means of implementation, quality control, and timing of intervention.

The prognostic value of the NECPAL instrument, Palliative Prognostic Index, and PROFUND index in elderly residents of nursing homes with advanced chronic condition

BACKGROUND

It is essential to assess the need for palliative care and the life prognosis of elderly nursing home residents with an advanced chronic condition, and the NECPAL ICO-CCOMS©4.0 prognostic instrument may be adequate for both purposes. The objective of this study was to examine the predictive capacity of NECPAL, the Palliative Prognosis Index, and the PROFUND index in elderly residents with advanced chronic condition with and without dementia, comparing their results at different time points.

METHODS

This prospective observational study was undertaken in eight nursing homes, following the survival of 146 residents with advanced chronic condition (46.6% with dementia) at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. The capacity of the three instruments to predict mortality was evaluated by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), with 95% confidence interval, for the global population and separately for residents with and without dementia.

RESULTS

The mean age of residents was 84.63 years (± 8.989 yrs); 67.8% were female. The highest predictive capacity was found for PROFUND at 3 months (95%CI: 0.526-0.756; p = 0.016), for PROFUND and NECPAL at 12 months (non-significant; AUC > 0.5), and NECPAL at 24 months (close-to-significant (AUC = 0.624; 95% CI: 0.499-0.750; p = 0.053). The highest capacity at 12 months was obtained using PROFUND in residents with dementia (AUC = 0.698; 95%CI: 0.566-0.829; p = 0.003) and NECPAL in residents without dementia (non-significant; AUC = 0.649; 95%CI: 0.432-0.867; p = 0.178). Significant differences in AUC values were observed between PROFUND at 12 (p = 0.017) and 24 (p = 0.028) months.

CONCLUSIONS

PROFUND offers the most accurate prediction of survival in elderly care home residents with advanced chronic condition overall and in those with dementia, especially over the short term, whereas NECPAL ICO-CCOMS©4.0 appears to be the most useful to predict the long-term survival of residents without dementia. These results support early evaluation of the need for palliative care in elderly care home residents with advanced chronic condition.

Intensity of end-of-life care among children with life-threatening conditions: a national population-based observational study

BACKGROUND

Children with life-threatening conditions frequently experience high intensity care at the end of life, though most of this research only focused on children with cancer. Some research suggests inequities in care provided based on age, disease type, socioeconomic status, and distance that the child lives from a tertiary hospital. We examined: 1) the prevalence of indicators of high intensity end-of-life care (e.g., hospital stays, intensive care unit [ICU] stays, death in ICU, use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation [CPR], use of mechanical ventilation) and 2) the association between demographic and diagnostic factors and each indicator for children with any life-threatening condition in Canada.

METHODS

We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study using linked health administrative data to examine care provided in the last 14, 30, and 90 days of life to children who died between 3 months and 19 years of age from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2014 from any underlying life-threatening medical condition. Logistic regression was used to model the association between demographic and diagnostic variables and each indicator of high intensity end-of-life care except number of hospital days where negative binomial regression was used.

RESULTS

Across 2435 child decedents, the most common diagnoses included neurology (51.1%), oncology (38.0%), and congenital illness (35.9%), with 50.9% of children having diagnoses in three or more categories. In the last 30 days of life, 42.5% (n = 1035) of the children had an ICU stay and 36.1% (n = 880) died in ICU. Children with cancer had lower odds of an ICU stay (OR = 0.47; 95% CI = 0.36-0.62) and ICU death (OR = 0.37; 95%CI = 0.28-0.50) than children with any other diagnoses. Children with 3 or more diagnoses (vs. 1 diagnosis) had higher odds of > 1 hospital stay in the last 30 days of life (OR = 2.08; 95%CI = 1.29-3.35). Living > 400 km (vs < 50 km) from a tertiary pediatric hospital was associated with higher odds of multiple hospitalizations (OR = 2.09; 95%CI = 1.33-3.33).

CONCLUSION

High intensity end of life care is prevalent in children who die from life threatening conditions, particularly those with a non-cancer diagnosis. Further research is needed to understand and identify opportunities to enhance care across disease groups.

From Hospital to Home: Referrals to Pediatric Hospice and Home-based Palliative Care

CONTEXT

Hospital-based pediatric palliative care (PPC) may help optimize referrals to community-based hospice and home-based palliative care (HBPC) for children with serious illness, yet little is known about their referral practices.

OBJECTIVES

To describe community-based program referrals from a PPC team, identifying factors associated with referral type, and potential misalignment between patient needs and referral received.

METHODS

Chart abstraction of patients seen in 2017 by the PPC team of a large, urban children's hospital, followed for at least 6 months or until death, including clinical and demographic characteristics, and referrals to hospice and HBPC.

RESULTS

Of the 302 study-eligible patients, 25% died during the hospitalization of the first 2017 visit.  Of the remaining 228 patients, 42 (18.4%) were referred to HBPC and 58 (25.4%) to hospice. Excluding patients referred to hospice care, only one-third with demographic eligibility were referred to HBPC; those seen in the ICU were least likely to be referred.  Over half of the 58 patients referred to hospice died within the study period (n = 34, 58.6%); descendants were more likely to have cancer (P = 0.002) and less likely to have a neurologic (P = 0.021) diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

Despite demographic eligibility, a minority of patients seen by a hospital-based PPC team received referrals for hospice or HBPC.  Children discharged from an ICU and those with neurologic conditions may be at higher risk of missing referrals best aligned with their needs.  Future research should identify and address causes of referral misalignment. Advocacy for programs adaptable to patients' changing needs may also be needed.

Palliative Care in Children With Advanced Heart Disease in a Tertiary Care Environment: A Mini Review

Palliative care for children continues to evolve. More recently, this has also been true in the field of pediatric cardiology, particularly for children with advanced heart disease. In these children, similarly to children with cancer, treatment successes are offset by the risks of long-term morbidities, including premature death. This mini review aims to provide an overview of current knowledge on children suffering from advanced heart disease, their medical care during various phases of illness (including the palliative and end-of-life phase), symptom burden, experiences of parents, prognostic understanding of parents and physicians, and current status of the involvement of pediatric palliative care. In conclusion, the suffering of these children at the end of their young lives is pronounced and many parents feel prepared neither for medical problems nor for the child’s death. An effective and mutually trusting partnership between pediatric cardiology and pediatric palliative care would appear to be a prerequisite for the timely involvement of palliative care in further supporting these children and their families.