Perceptions of the term palliative care.

Objectives: To assess parents' and health care providers' perceptions of the name and description of a pediatric palliative care (PPC) program.

Methods: Survey conducted at three pediatric health care sites; asked respondents (parents and staff) about their likelihood to use a program identified either as palliative care or supportive care, as well as their understanding and feelings about the program before and after reading a program description.

Results: Response rate was 89% (195/220); 184 were considered evaluable.

Where infants die: examination of place of death and hospice/home health care options in the state of Wisconsin.

Infants (less than 1 year of age) have the highest death rates in the pediatric population, yet there is little published on hospice utilization for infant home deaths. We sought to describe: (1) where infants with a predisposing life-threatening condition are dying, (2) agency services available to dying infants and their families, and (3) utilization of these services for infants within the state of Wisconsin. We collected information from death certificates for infants whose cause of death was either congenital anomaly or condition of the perinatal period, such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy or prematurity.