ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Pediatric palliative care is the highest level of care aiming to improve the quality of life of all children and families with life-limiting and threatening diseases. The knowledge and awareness of pediatricians about pediatric palliative care in our country is not known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and awareness level of pediatricians in the field of pediatric palliative care.
Methods:
The study was planned as a prospective study following the approval of Local Ethics Committee of Dr. Behçet Uz Children’s Hospital. Totally 217 pediatricians answered the questionnaire completely. The data obtained from the survey questions were uploaded to the SPSS program and statistical analysis was performed.
Results:
Of the 217 pediatricians who participated in the study, 67.3% were women and 59.4% were specialist physicians. 68.7% of the physicians were employed in education and research hospitals and 7.4% in private institutions. It was found that pediatricians heard about pediatric palliative care (p=0.002), but they thought it was less necessary when its effect on quality of life, analgesia and sedation use was questioned.
Conclusion:
Pediatric palliative care is a new field in our country. It was found that most of the participants heard about pediatric palliative care because they worked in education and research hospital but they did not know the content. In the coming years, we believe that increasing the number of centers and training will increase the knowledge level of pediatricians.
Keywords:
Child, education, pediatrician, pediatric palliative care
References
1Field MJ, Behrman RE. Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Committee on Palliative and End-of-Life Care for. When children die: improving palliative and end-of-life care for children and their families. Washington DC:National Academy Press;2003.
2ACT and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). Last Accessed Date: 10.10.2019. Available from: http://www.act.org.uk/content/view/77/127/
3Fraser J, Harris N, Berringer AJ, Prescott H, Finlay F. Advanced care planning in children with life-limiting conditions the Wishes Document. Arch Dis Child. 2010;95:79-82.
4Himelstein BP, Hilden JM, Boldt AM, Weissman D. Pediatric palliative care. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:1752-62.
5Basol N, Rinnert S. A survey on palliative care applied to emergency physicians in america. Gaziosmanpaşa Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Derg. 2015;7:100-4.
6Gade G, Venohr I, Conner D, Beane J, Richardson RH, et al. Impact of an inpatient palliative care team: a randomized control trial. J Palliat Med. 2008;11:180-90.
7World Health Organisation (WHO). Definition of palliative care. Erişim Linki: www.who.int/cancer/palliative/deffinition/en. Son Erişim Tarihi: 21.10.2019.
8Kabalak AA, Öztürk H, Çağıl H. End of life care organization; palliative care. Yoğun Bakım Dergisi. 2013;11:56-70.
9Ulusoy SK, Koç ZA, Çayköylü A. Palliative care in cancer patients. Türkiye Klinikleri J Psychiatry-Special Topics. 2014;7:85-8.
10Eyigor S. Fifth-year medical students’ knowledge of palliative care and their views on the subject. J Palliat Med. 2013;16:941-6.
11Basol N, Celenk Y, Okan İ. The Thoughts of emergency physicians about palliative care: evaluation of awareness. JAEM. 2015;14:75-8.
12Lamba S, Pound A, Rella JG, Compton S. Emergency medicine resident education in palliative care: a needs assessment. J Palliat Med. 2012;15:516-20.
13Stone SC, Mohanty S, Grudzen CR, Shoenberger J, Asch S, et al. Emergency medicine physicians’ perspectives of providing palliative care in an emergency department. J Palliat Med. 2011;14:1333-8.
14Weber M, Schmiedel S, Nauck F, Alt-Epping B. Knowledge and attitude of final-year medical students in Germany towards palliative care - an interinstitutional questionnaire-based study. BMC Palliative Care. 2011;10:19.
15Horowitz R, Gramling R, Quill T. Palliative care education in U.S. medical schools. Med Educ. 2014;48:59-66.
16Canteno C, Ballesteros M, Carrasco JM, Arantzamendi M. Does palliative care education matter to medical students? The experience of attending an undergraduate course in palliative care. BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2016;6:128-34.
17Bağ B. Palliative care practices in the health system in the case of Germany. Türk Onkoloji Derg. 2012;27:142-9.
18Çıtıl R, Okan I, Yalcın O, Celtek Nagehan Y, Suren M, et al. Evaluation of medical faculty students' awareness on palliative care. Bezmialem Sci. 2018;6:100-7.
19Gerlach C, Mai S, Schmidtmann I, Massen C, Reinholz U, et al. Does Interdisciplinary and multiprofessional undergraduate education ıncrease students’ self-confidence and knowledge toward palliative care? Evaluation of an undergraduate curriculum design for palliative care at a German academic hospital. J Palliat Med. 2015;18:513-9.
20Chiu N, Cheon P, Lutz S, Lao N, Pulenzas N, et al. Inadequacy of palliative training in the medical school curriculum. J Canc Educ. 2015;30:749-53.
21Downing J, Powell RA, Marston J, Huwa C, Chandra L, et al. Children's palliative care in low- and middle-income countries. Arch Dis Child. 2016;101:85-90.
22Grudzen CR, Richardson LD, Major-Monfried H, Kandarian B, Ortiz JM, et al. Hospital administrators’ views on barriers and opportunities to delivering palliative care in the emergency department. Ann Emerg Med. 2013;61:654-60.