Each year in the U.S., 55,000 children less than 20 years of age die from life threatening diseases (Carter et al., 2004). So, what exactly is being done to help these children get through the endless treatments and to understand that death is a very real possibility in their future? Who is helping the loved ones who survive the sick child move on with their lives and deal with their loss? Pediatric palliative care nurses play a big part in helping sick children and the families of the children who do not make it get through this difficult situation. A team of medical professionals work along with the palliative care team to help the family and the sick child understand what is happening and to decide the best course of action for everyone …show more content…
Ann Armstong-Dailey and Sarah Zarbock noted, “Dying is, by and large, something adults do” (293), so it would be logical for there to be more palliative and hospice care units for adults than for children. The first pediatric palliative care unit in the United States was opened in 1985 by St. Mary’s Free Hospital for Children and there are still only a handful of them in the United States. One reason that there are not that many palliative care units in the United States may be the fact that a vast majority of deaths occur in elderly people, more specifically, in those who are sixty and older. With the majority of deaths being in that age group, most research would be directed towards trying to find curative treatments for them. Considering all of the research is being targeted toward the health of older adults, not as much is being done on childhood cancers and diseases. Another thought would be that children were thought to tolerate pain better than adults and, therefore, do not need as much management for their pain. Thankfully, there has been more research done in recent years that proves that children feel just as much pain as adults do, if not more do to the fact that their tolerance to pain increases with age (Armstrong-Dailey and Zarbock …show more content…
It is important for the nurse to understand the psychosocial and emotional responses to developmental tasks that confront the sick child and the associated family responses to the behaviors that result from each developmental stage of the child: infant/toddler, school-age child, and adolescent (Armstrong-Dailey and Zarbock, 73). For instance, infants and toddlers have separation issues and want desperately to be surrounded by familiar people in order to feel comfortable. School-age children are just beginning to gain a small amount of independence and may have started to make decisions for themselves prior to diagnosis, such as choosing what clothes to wear to school or what to eat for lunch. With this new-found independence, they will want to be included in making decisions regarding the treatment of their disease. Adolescents will have a strong desire to be “normal” and do things that other kids their age are doing, such as going to school, getting their driver’s license, or just hanging out with friends. Also, with adolescents being older and having even more independence than school-age children do, they could feel that since they are near death, they should have all the power than an adult would in making decisions about their treatment. This could cause many fights between the sick adolescent and their parents. While they are so close to adulthood, they are still considered