Hola a tod@s, my dear friends.


In the middle of the week #CuidadosPaliativosIntensivos (Palliative-Intensive Care), from the Hospital Infantil Universitario Niño Jesús in Madrid, Dr. Alberto García Salido share with us the editorial Pediatric Palliative Care: The Oppinion of parents, child and health professionals (only available in Spanish), signed by  Dr. Ricardo Martino Alba  and published in the Journal Evidencias en Pediatría on March 2012.

Only a little summary:

Palliative care of children are the total care of the body, mind and spirit of the child, and also involve support to the family. The goal of palliative care is to achieve the best quality of life possible for patients and their families, in accordance with their values, regardless of where the patient is located. This way of practicing Medicine focused on the people, require a treatment not only multi-disciplinary, but also multidimensional: bodily, emotional, relational, spiritual and social.


Respond correctly to this sick child requires to take into account not only what happens, but what for him is important. The family, in this situation, constitutes a fundamental pillar in the therapeutic relationship. And in this sense, their opinions may differ from the practitioners.

The team not only has to possess theoretical knowledge and practical skills, but also a moral attitude that respond to others from a human point of view. Therefore, diagnostic approaches, therapeutic and monitoring must conform to the therapeutic objectives for each phase of the disease according to the patient’s clinical and personal situation. Not only the disease, but also the person.

Source: http://www.paisefilhos.pt/

Family, in addition to its own functions with any of their children, has to deal with the situation of the disease and the prospect of death, change their priorities, incorporate new tasks and learn and play techniques and very specific care.

For this reason, not only palliative care team attends to the patient but also puts into practice the accompaniment: “all activity which consciously the team does that attends the child so that, he and his family do not feel alone, can keep, intensify or strengthen the links between them and be prepared to receive and integrate the fact of death of the more peaceful and human way possible respecting and supporting their values and ethical and religious convictions”.

Congratulations to the author, there is not much more to add.
We keep betting on change.
Happy Thursday,
Gabi