Pediatric hospice care.

The concept of pediatric hospice care is in many ways a new one that is subject to misunderstanding, especially as to its character and scope. Nevertheless, with or without this particular title, implementation of pediatric hospice care may already be underway via existing caregivers and provider systems, and further development is dependent in large part upon the sensitivity, expertise, and cooperation of pediatricians and their colleagues. To encourage the collaborative effort that is required, this article reviews: the main principles of the hospice philosophy that are relevant to pediatric care, three types of situations involving children to which those principles might be applied, the wide range of needs and bewildering variety of factors that may complicate such care, three basic contexts within which this sort of care can be delivered, the multiplicity of skills that are relevant to this approach to care, and the many ways in which services can be provided.