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Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific

Background: The provision of pediatric palliative care in Asia Pacific varies between countries and availability of essential medications for symptoms at the end of life in this region is unclear. Objective: To determine medications available and used in the management of six symptoms at the end of...

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Main Authors: Chong, Lee Ai, Chong, Poh Heng, Chee, Joyce
Format: Article
Published: Mary Ann Liebert 2018
Subjects:
R Medicine
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/22205/
https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2017.0626
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spelling my.um.eprints.222052019-09-04T04:12:21Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/22205/ Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific Chong, Lee Ai Chong, Poh Heng Chee, Joyce R Medicine Background: The provision of pediatric palliative care in Asia Pacific varies between countries and availability of essential medications for symptoms at the end of life in this region is unclear. Objective: To determine medications available and used in the management of six symptoms at the end of life among pediatric palliative care practitioners in Asia Pacific. To identify alternative pharmacological strategies for these six symptoms if the oral route was no longer possible and injections are refused. Design and Setting: An online survey of all Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network (APHN) members was carried out to identify medications used for six symptoms (pain, dyspnea, excessive respiratory secretions, nausea/vomiting, restlessness, seizures) in dying children. Two scenarios were of interest: (1) hours to days before death and (2) when injectables were declined or refused. Results: There were 54 responses from 18 countries. Majority (63.0%) of respondents were hospital based. About half of all respondents were from specialist palliative care services and 55.6% were from high-income countries. All respondents had access to essential analgesics. Several perceived that there were no available drugs locally to treat the five other commonly encountered symptoms. There was a wide variation in preferred drugs for treating each symptom that went beyond differences in drug availability or formulations. Conclusion: Future studies are needed to explore barriers to medication access and possible knowledge gaps among service providers in the region, so that advocacy and education endeavors by the APHN may be optimized. Mary Ann Liebert 2018 Article PeerReviewed Chong, Lee Ai and Chong, Poh Heng and Chee, Joyce (2018) Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 21 (9). pp. 1242-1248. ISSN 1096-6218 https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2017.0626 doi:10.1089/jpm.2017.0626
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic R Medicine
spellingShingle R Medicine
Chong, Lee Ai
Chong, Poh Heng
Chee, Joyce
Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific
description Background: The provision of pediatric palliative care in Asia Pacific varies between countries and availability of essential medications for symptoms at the end of life in this region is unclear. Objective: To determine medications available and used in the management of six symptoms at the end of life among pediatric palliative care practitioners in Asia Pacific. To identify alternative pharmacological strategies for these six symptoms if the oral route was no longer possible and injections are refused. Design and Setting: An online survey of all Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network (APHN) members was carried out to identify medications used for six symptoms (pain, dyspnea, excessive respiratory secretions, nausea/vomiting, restlessness, seizures) in dying children. Two scenarios were of interest: (1) hours to days before death and (2) when injectables were declined or refused. Results: There were 54 responses from 18 countries. Majority (63.0%) of respondents were hospital based. About half of all respondents were from specialist palliative care services and 55.6% were from high-income countries. All respondents had access to essential analgesics. Several perceived that there were no available drugs locally to treat the five other commonly encountered symptoms. There was a wide variation in preferred drugs for treating each symptom that went beyond differences in drug availability or formulations. Conclusion: Future studies are needed to explore barriers to medication access and possible knowledge gaps among service providers in the region, so that advocacy and education endeavors by the APHN may be optimized.
format Article
author Chong, Lee Ai
Chong, Poh Heng
Chee, Joyce
author_facet Chong, Lee Ai
Chong, Poh Heng
Chee, Joyce
author_sort Chong, Lee Ai
title Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific
title_short Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific
title_full Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific
title_fullStr Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific
title_full_unstemmed Pharmacological Management of Symptoms in Children with Life-Limiting Conditions at the End of Life in the Asia Pacific
title_sort pharmacological management of symptoms in children with life-limiting conditions at the end of life in the asia pacific
publisher Mary Ann Liebert
publishDate 2018
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/22205/
https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2017.0626
_version_ 1646210174228103168
score 13.211869

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