Written by Camara Van Breemen

research project: pedatric advance care planning and documentation initative for bc

Lead investigators/designated PI’s

Nadine Lusney, Camara van Breemen, and Zahra Hussein  

Approval Date

September 2021

Timeline

Late January 2022

Currently, there is an absence of overarching provincial guidance and documentation of Goals of Care for children with serious illness requiring Advance Care Planning (ACP) in BC. The number of children requiring ACP is relatively low; however, the impact on the quality of life and bereavement process for families is significant. ACP requires a high degree of communication competency and can lead to better outcomes for families and systems. ACP can also reduce health care provider stress and moral distress by providing clarity regarding family wishes during crises.

Currently there is no provincial document for pediatric patients such as the BC MOST form (Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment) as there is in adult care. Recently, BC Center for Palliative Care, in collaboration with Palliative Care content experts across the province, have engaged in the process of updating the adult MOST form through a provincial working group, FLICS. Canuck Place is a part of the FLICS project and has access to the literature review process and results. BC Center for Palliative Care has informally offered support to Canuck Place if a pediatric ACP project was undertaken; however, it is unclear at this time what this.

Objectives

  • To conduct a scoping review of research literature and grey literature related to the topic of Pediatric ACP (process, documentation, implementation). The scoping review will take into consideration the lit review process undertaken by the FLICS project; however, the pediatric scoping review search will likely be more expansive since the literature is likely to be limited.
  • To conduct an environmental scan of current pediatric ACP documents, and process and practices across BC Health Authorities and Canada as per the lit review and environmental process completed by FLICS for the adult population.