Palliative Care Programs in Children’s Hospitals

• Published in: Pediatrics (Evanston) 2022-10, Vol.150 (4), p.1
• Main Authors: Weaver, Meaghann S., Shostrom, Valerie K., Kaye, Erica C., Keegan, Amy, Lindley, Lisa C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acuity; Children; Children & youth; Hospitals; Palliation; Palliative care; Pediatrics; Surveys; Trauma
• ISSN: 0031-4005; 1098-4275
• DOI: 10.1542/peds.2022-057872

BACKGROUNG AND OBJECTIVES This study determined the prevalence of PPC programs in the United States and compared the environment of children's hospitals with and without PPC programs. METHODS Analyses of the multicenter Children's Hospital Association Annual Benchmark Report 2020 survey for prevalence of PPC programs and association with operational, missional, educational, and financial domains. RESULTS Two hundred thirty-one hospitals received Annual Benchmark Report survey requests with 148 submitted (64% response rate) inclusive of 50 states. One hundred nineteen (80%) reported having a PPC program and 29 (20%) reported not having a PPC program. Free-standing children's hospitals (n = 42 of 148, 28%) were more likely to report the presence of PPC (P = .004). For settings with PPC programs, the median number of staffed beds was 185 (25th quartile 119, 75th quartile 303) compared with 49 median number of staffed beds for those without PPC (25th quartile 30, 75th quartile 81). Facilities with higher ratio of trauma, intensive care, or acuity level were more likely to offer PPC. Although palliative care was associated with hospice (P