title: Helping parents make and survive end of life decisions for their seriously ill child.
abstract: American parents of chronically ill children prefer to be involved in decision making about their ill child's end of life care. Parents trust the clinicians involved with their ill child to make reasoned judgments on behalf of the ill child and to consistently look out for the child's best interests. Parents report that having access to understandable information about their child's health status influences their ability to participate in end of life decisions. This information includes the certainty that all reasonable attempts to save the child have been done and in the best possible ways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Research and Quality Outcomes, Children's National Medical Center, The George Washington University, 111 Michigan Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20010, USA. pshinds@cnmc.org
authors.forename: Pamela S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Hinds
authors.forename: Katherine Patterson
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kelly
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D057240:Patient Preference; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D012944:Social Support; D013727:Terminal Care; D014481:United States