Children and adolescents treated in public hospitals with pediatric
oncology need specific care to mitigate the pain and to provide
quality of life during the treatment period.
At Desiderata, we believe that this situation can and must change. Even though the main policies and national and international guidelines indicate palliative care as part of comprehensive patient care, initiatives to address this are still minimal, especially those related to pediatrics in Brazil and Rio de Janeiro.
According to the World Health Organization, “Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.”
Pediatric oncology public services in Rio de Janeiro develop actions related to the issue, with different levels of organization and institutionalization. Our job has been to support the structuring of this care in all hospitals with pediatric oncology through the creation of a collaborative network among professionals, and with the objective of establishing pediatric palliative care in the day-to-day of the hospitals.
Worldwide, 2.5 million children died needing palliative care.
The Lancet, 2018. Global Health. Toronto Global Cancer Control Conference 2018
Main results
- Creation of a working group and regular meetings with doctors, nurses, social workers and psychologists from four of the six hospitals with pediatric oncology service in Rio de Janeiro.
- Construction of a standard model of the work plan to be used by these hospitals.
- Construction of a research project on pediatric palliative care in Brazil.