title: Referrals to a new pediatric palliative care team: details of the first 12 months of operation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although the field of pediatric palliative care (PPC) remains in its infancy, over the past decade it has grown in practice and scope. We report on patient referral patterns to a new PPC team at a free-standing children's hospital.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Our aim is to provide a descriptive comparison of the patient population seen by our new program as compared to existing literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined our database of patient referral and demographic data and compared our data with published reports.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our team was operating beyond its predicted year-one volume with a patient population that mirrored larger, more established programs. In an era of growth and acceptance of PPC, hospitals that have undergone a strong needs assessment, significant educational effort, and have a strong prediction of patient volume should expect to be operating at projected capacity quickly.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children , Wilmington, Delaware.
authors.forename: Meg
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frizzola
authors.forename: Elissa G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009864:Ontario; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult