Pediatric End-of-life Care Barriers and Facilitators: Perception of Nursing Professionals in Jordan

INTRODUCTION End-of-life care is a critical issue for pediatric population with terminal illness to ensure the best possible quality of care for them and their families. A survey was conducted to identify the barriers and facilitators to provide pediatric end-of-life care. METHODS A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at three tertiary centers providing end-of-life care in Jordan. Two hundred critical care nurses were surveyed (response rate 93%). RESULTS Nurses reported moderate level of experience in all areas of delivering pediatric end-of-life care. The highest scoring of barriers respectively were patients-families barriers having deal with angry family member; health-care professional barriers multiple physicians, involved with one patient, who differ in opinion about the direction care, and where plan of care should go; and organizational barriers not available support person for the family. The highest scoring of facilitators respectively were of patients families facilitators having family members accept that the patient is dying; health-care professional-facilitators having a physician agrees about the direction of care, and organizational facilitators providing family members adequate time to be alone with the pediatric after he or she has died. CONCLUSION Nurses perceived that patient-family, health-care professionals, and organizational related barriers and facilitators were had the most influence in providing of pediatric end-of-life care. Findings highlighted the need for additional education and support for pediatric staff, across professions, in providing pediatric end-of-life care. A pediatric end-of-life care team should be developed to assist in improving patients' quality of care and increasing the awareness for the need for a standardized tool to evaluate the nursing competency level concerning pediatric end-of-life care.