• Omar Mohammad Khraisat, Nemeh Ahmad Alakour, and Teresa M O'Neill.
• Department of Nursing, Almaarefa Colleges, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• Indian J Palliat Care. 2017 Apr 1; 23 (2): 199-206.

IntroductionEnd-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.MethodsA 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%).ResultsNurses 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.ConclusionNurses 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.

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