Palliative Care and Quality of Life for Children with Cancer in Thailand

Under budget constraints, Thai physicians in the public sector are often overworked and underpaid.  Palliative care has not been considered a part of good medical care until recently.  Despite free medical care for most cancer cases, transportation costs are a significant burden for many families.  In the event of cancer recurrence, most patients will continue treatment despite a small chance of benefit.  With proper counselling and discussion of palliative care, many families will choose palliative care. 

Main objectives of the project:

• Train paediatric nurses and oncologists in paediatric palliative care
• Develop of End of Life Nursing Educational Consortium (ELNEC) – paediatric palliative care module
• Identify volunteers to assist physicians in providing palliative care services
• Develop of paediatric family support groups at paediatric treatment centres
• Increase quality of life for poor children

Benefits of the project:

• Develop a network of qualified paediatric oncologists and nurses in paediatric palliative care
• Publish a book on paediatric palliative care for Thai paediatric oncologists and a handbook for Thai parents.
• Develop and support paediatric existing pediatric cancer registry
• Raise the quality of life of children living with cancer

Location

• Keywords

  • Palliative Care,
  • professional education