Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25914573›Full record

ArticlePaediatrics & child health2015

Quality indicators for paediatric palliative care.

Janie Charlebois, Claude Cyr

Erratum issuedAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Paediatrics & child health, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Janie CharleboisDépartement de pédiatrie, Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Claude CyrDépartement de pédiatrie, Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo apply quality indicators for paediatric palliative care and evaluate performance in one service provision area.

methodsAfter institutional review board approval, medical records were abstracted for well-defined and measurable quality indicators for children with chronic complex conditions (CCCs) between January 2006 and December 2011 (n=50) at a university medical centre.

resultsOf the 50 children with a CCC (mean age 64 months, 48% female), 39 (78%) died in hospital, 11 (22%) died at home and 13 (26%) were <1 month of age. In the final month of their life, 10 patients (20%) required an unplanned visit to the emergency department and seven (14%) were admitted. Only four patients (8%) were admitted for >14 days in their final month of life. Goals of care were addressed in a timely manner 60% of the time. An invasive procedure was performed in the final month of life in 27 (44%) patients. Bereavement follow-up was offered to 25 (50%) families. A palliative care consultant was involved with 17 (34%) patients. Palliative care was associated with less frequent invasive procedures in the final month of life and more frequent documentation of the preferred place of death.

conclusionPerformance on these particular quality indicators was unsatisfactory across a diverse group of children with CCCs, indicating important opportunities for improvement. Methods used to improve the quality of other aspects of paediatric care, including emphasis on efficient work systems, practical tools and interdisciplinary teamwork, should be used for ensuring delivery of high-quality palliative care.

Indexed as

ChildChronic complex conditionPaediatric palliative careQuality indicators

Identifiers

PMID25914573
PMCPMC4403276

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.