Parental perspectives on the clinician's approach to serious illness communication: A qualitative study.

Objectives: To explore the perceptions of parents caring for a child with a life-limiting condition on approaches to communication used by clinicians engaging in routine serious illness communication.

Methods: An exploratory qualitative design was used, employing a thematic analysis of data derived through semi-structured interviews which presented hypothetical vignettes of serious illness conversations to elicit parental perspectives. Adult parents of children with a life-limiting condition, in a stable phase of care, known to the Neurodevelopment and Disability Department of a tertiary Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, were purposively sampled to achieve a broad representation of relevant clinical and sociodemographic factors.

Intractable Feeding Intolerance in Children With Severe Neurological Impairment: A Retrospective Case Review of Nine Children Known to a Pediatric Palliative Care Service.

Background: Intractable feeding intolerance in children with severe neurological impairment (SNI) is poorly defined and understood.

Objectives: (1) To describe 9 children with SNI, where intractable feeding intolerance was thought to be a contributor to their deterioration or death. (2) To consider terminology to describe the severe end of the spectrum of feeding difficulties in children with SNI.

Perioperative Care of Children with Severe Neurological Impairment and Neuromuscular Scoliosis-.

Neuromuscular scoliosis is a common feature in children with severe neurological impairment (SNI), including those with severe cerebral palsy. Surgical correction of scoliosis is the mainstay of treatment. This group of patients also have associated medical complexity.

Pancreatic trauma in children.

Purpose: To document the demographics, mechanisms and outcome of traumatic pancreatitis in children at a single large tertiary referral centre in Australia.

Methods: We undertook a 10-year retrospective audit of children admitted to the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia with a hospital coded diagnosis which included pancreatic injury between 1993 and 2002. Data included patient demographics, source of admission, mechanism of injury, pancreatic complications, associated injuries, intensive care unit admission, results of any operative findings, results of any acute computed tomography and/or ultrasound imaging of pancreas, selected laboratory findings and length of stay.