Communication Strategies & Palliative Care in the PICU--Part 2

Stockton Beveridge, M.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Developmental / Behavioral Pediatrics, serving as the director of Pediatric Palliative Care. Dr. Beveridge’s research interests have focused on the challenges faced by caregivers of children with medical complexity, particularly in the Latino population. He is additionally interested in the intersection of religion and medicine, particularly in medical crisis. He sits on the hospital’s Ethics Committee and is also the medical director for Schwartz Rounds.

Katie Maddox, M.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Developmental / Behavioral Pediatrics at UT Southwestern. She is a board-certified pediatric palliative care physician at Children’s Health Dallas. Her clinical and research interests relate to caring for children with special healthcare needs and communication skills training in medical education. Dr. Maddox has received the Educational Innovation Award for developing communication skills training and the Pediatric Society of Greater Dallas White Hat Award.

By the end of this two-part series, listeners will be able to:

1. Verbalize a more progressive definition of palliative care, and distinguish it from "end-of-life" care or hospice care.
2. Define appropriate patient populations for referral to palliative care.
3. Sensitively and clearly introduce palliative care referral with patients and families. 
4. Recognize the value of communication training, and verbalize a simple framework for difficult conversations. 
5. Define the challenges of learning/practicing difficult communication as a resident/fellow, and elaborate some strategies to help mitigate these challenges. 

References: 

Center to Advance Palliative Care--https://www.capc.org/  

Childers JW, Back AL, Tulsky JA, Arnold RM. REMAP: A Framework for Goals of Care Conversations. J Oncol Pract. 2017 Oct;13(10):e844-e850. doi: 10.1200/JOP.2016.018796. Epub 2017 Apr 26. PMID: 28445100.

Gillis J. "We want everything done". Arch Dis Child. 2008 Mar;93(3):192-3. doi: 10.1136/adc.2007.120568. PMID: 18319382.

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