Unidentified paediatric palliative needs: use of the Paediatric Palliative Screening Scale.

BACKGROUND

Paediatric palliative care should be provided to children and adolescents with complex chronic, life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, from the time of diagnosis, throughout the life course and beyond death, ensuring continuity of care.

AIMS: To identify children and adolescents with complex chronic conditions at a Portuguese healthcare unit who may be eligible for referral to paediatric palliative care.

METHODS

An exploratory, descriptive quantitative and cross-sectional study was conducted, using the Portuguese version of the Paediatric Palliative Screening Scale. A total of 397 children and adolescents attending a paediatric developmental consultation were included in the study. Of these, 10 participants met the study's inclusion criteria and were assessed through telephone interviews with their parents.

FINDINGS: The use of the screening tool enabled the identification of two participants (20%) who would benefit from referral.

CONCLUSIONS

Integrating systematic tools, such as the Paediatric Palliative Screening Scale, into routine consultations may enable earlier referral to palliative care, improving quality of care and support for families.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Routine use of referral tools combined with improved palliative care literacy and communication may facilitate earlier identification of children with palliative care needs and more timely referral to specialist services. Future development of more holistic referral tools that incorporate functional, psychosocial and symptom-related needs could support more equitable, person-centred paediatric palliative care.