Journal of palliative medicine
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To implement and evaluate a quality improvement program of interdisciplinary palliative care education and support intended to increase the competence, confidence and ability to manage personal grief of health care professionals caring for dying children. ⋯ A program of interdisciplinary interventions can successfully educate and support health care professionals in providing palliative and end-of-life care for children. This program model can be applied in diverse pediatric health care settings.
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As part of a comprehensive national effort to improve care at the end of life, the Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation convened "national peer-professional workgroups" of recognized authorities or leaders to advance palliative aspects of practice in their respective specialties or fields. ⋯ The national peer-professional workgroup model exceeded original expectations and produced well-considered Recommendations to the Field as well as a body of resources for professionals in expanding access to and quality of palliative care. Results of this experimental venture in professional change suggest that the workgroup model may be a useful, cost-effective, rapid-change strategy for quality improvement in other areas of professional practice and service delivery.