Issue #50 of the Children’s Project on Palliative/Hospice Services (ChiPPS) has published the Issue #50 (February 2018) of their E-Journal entitled: Celebrating the Past and the Future of Pediatric Palliative/Hospice Care
This issue offers an expanded collection of articles either looking back on the development of pediatric palliative/hospice care and of ChiPPS and its E-Journal or looking forward to their hope and predictions for the future of the field. According to the editors, the articles constitute a rich trove of experiences and insights that will benefit any reader with an interest in the field of children’s palliative and hospice care.
Here is a summary of just some of the articles within this edition:
Reflections on the Evolution of Palliative Care for Children by Dr Betty Davies in which she offers a sweeping account of the development of palliative care for children through the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. To this, she adds an overview of research development and what she regards as five remaining challenges for the field.
Reflections on the Growth and Development of Children’s Palliative Care by Dr Stephen R. Connor, Executive Director of the Worldwide Hospice Care Alliance who reviews recently-published estimates of the global need for children’s pallaitive care and provides a map of the global ability to provide that care.
ChiPPS – Celebratig 50 E-Journals by Marci Lattanzi Licht who maintains that “Three elements became central to ChiPPS from the outset, and also parallel the origins of the hospice movement: a significant level of Passion, the commitment to Networking, and the concept of paying it Forward.”
Education: The Key to Providing, Maintaining, and Sustaining Excellent Pediatric Palliative Care by Pam Malloy, Cheryl Thaxton, Vanessa Battista, and Betty Ferrell which focuses on the ongoing need for education for nurses who care for children with life-threatening or chronic illnesses and their family members. The authors trace the development of the ELNEC-PPC (End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium— Pediatric Palliative Care) project and provides examples of how that education can and has been implemented in practice.
Advancing the Future Growth of Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Care by Conrad Williams who writes: “As our field looks to mature, it is imperative that we focus our efforts in the coming years on strengthening the specialty through dedicated and collaborative work on enhancing the clinical, advocacy, research, and educational efforts with the goal of increasing access to palliative care services across the country and beyond.” His article describes a program for achieving these enhancements.
10 Interesting Research Questions in Pediatric Palliative Care by Harold (Hal) Siden. Drawing on the monthly citation list, “Trends in Pediatric Palliative Care Research,” Dr. Siden notes the rapid growth in research publications in PPC and the striking difference in the nature of these articles over the past 20 years. He then organizes extensive lists of citations (126 in all) according to 10 interesting research questions that he would like to see addressed.
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