• Meg Frizzola and Elissa G Miller.
• 1 Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children , Wilmington, Delaware.
• J Palliat Med. 2014 May 1;17(5):585-8.

BackgroundAlthough the field of pediatric palliative care (PPC) remains in its infancy, over the past decade it has grown in practice and scope. We report on patient referral patterns to a new PPC team at a free-standing children's hospital.ObjectiveOur aim is to provide a descriptive comparison of the patient population seen by our new program as compared to existing literature.MethodsWe examined our database of patient referral and demographic data and compared our data with published reports.ConclusionsOur team was operating beyond its predicted year-one volume with a patient population that mirrored larger, more established programs. In an era of growth and acceptance of PPC, hospitals that have undergone a strong needs assessment, significant educational effort, and have a strong prediction of patient volume should expect to be operating at projected capacity quickly.

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