What support do parents need when their child is receiving end of life care?

How nurses can support the parents of terminally ill children This literature review was written as part of Poppy Croucher’s undergraduate degree

Background

End of life care is a critical part of children’s nursing as demonstrated by the fact that, in 2017, 4,415 children and young people died in the UK (Office for National Statistics 2018). Terminally ill children do not receive satisfactory care, however, due to insufficient training of nurses (RCN 2015), and the charity Together for Short Lives (2018) identifies that further improvements for end of life care are needed.

This literature review aimed to identify parental support needs during their child's end of life care and to provide recommendations for future practice, education and research.

Method

The framework Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome was used to develop the research question considered in this literature