Palliative Care with Dr. Sharon Beall (Part 2)

The MCG Pediatric Podcast

Palliative Care with Dr. Sharon Beall

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Participants:

• Rachel Vaizer, MD
• Sharon Beall, MD
• Zachary Hodges, MD

Peer review by the MCG Pediatric Podcast Committee

About our guest:

Dr. Sharon Beall is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia and the medical director for the Children’s Hospital of Georgia palliative care and hospice program.

Learning Objectives:

After listening to this podcast, learners should be able to:

1. Understand the value of palliative care as well as an overview of palliative care principles and practices.
2. Recognize the need for expertise in the assessment and treatment of patient symptom burden, functional status and quality of life.
3. Recognize the burden of serious illness and the role of palliative care in screening, assessing and treating psychological and psychiatric illnesses.
4. Recognize the social limitations in caring for the seriously ill and have a guide for screening for access to social support, food, housing, transportation and adaptive equipment.
5. Recognize the importance of spiritual and cultural beliefs in patient and family decision making.
6. Understand the importance of screening and assessment of patients and their family’s spiritual needs.
7. Recognize when a referral to hospice is indicated.
8. Manage the physical symptoms nearing the end of life (pain dyspnea, nausea, agitation, delirium, terminal secretions).
9. Recognize palliative care’s role the family and caregivers in post-death bereavement care.

Thank you for listening to this episode from the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Georgia. If you have any comments, suggestions, or feedback- you can email us at [e-mail]

Remember that all content during this episode is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It should not be used as medical advice to diagnose or treat any particular patient. Clinical vignette cases presented are based on hypothetical patient scenarios.We look forward to speaking to you on our next episode of the MCG Pediatric Podcast.

References:

• Bergstraesser, E. (2013). Pediatric palliative care—when quality of life becomes the main focus of treatment. European journal of pediatrics, 172(2), 139-150.
• Ferrell BR, Twaddle ML, Melnick A, Meier DE. National Consensus Project Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care Guidelines, 4th Edition. J Palliat Med. 2018 Dec;21(12):1684-1689. doi: 10.1089/jpm.2018.0431. Epub 2018 Sep 4. PMID: 30179523.
• Hsiao, J. L., Evan, E. E., & Zeltzer, L. K. (2007). Parent and child perspectives on physician communication in pediatric palliative care. Palliative & Supportive Care, 5(4), 355.
• Jones, B. L., Contro, N., & Koch, K. D. (2014). The duty of the physician to care for the family in pediatric palliative care: context, communication, and caring. Pediatrics, 133(Supplement 1), S8-S15.
• Linebarger, J., & Moreno, M. A. (2019). Pediatric palliative care. JAMA pediatrics, 173(11), 1115-1115.