Evaluation of Consultation with Young Patients with Cancer and their Children in Hospice Palliative Care During Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence / 의료커뮤니케이션

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: In this study, consultations with children of young patients with cancer were evaluated by dividing the child's age into infancy, childhood, and adolescence to ensure the necessity and importance of appropriate intervention, coordination, and communication.METHODS: From June 2017 to February 2019, medical records and consultation records were reviewed by selecting suitable cases among patients hospitalized in hospice palliative care unit at a Pusan national university Yangsan hospital. The consultation was conducted on several occasions by nurses, doctors and social workers from the time the patient was hospitalized to the day before death.RESULTS: The cases of consultation were as follows female patient with stomach cancer with a child in infancy, patient with gastric cancer with a child in childhood, and male patient with rectal cancer with a child in adolescence.CONCLUSION: It is ideal for parents to initiate communication with their children on their terminal status, so multidisciplinary teams must first support the motivation. In consultations with children, we should first explain the information about the cancer status of the parents, followed by the future clinical course, estimated life expectancy, and changes related to terminal status. Additionally, we must attempt to manage the psychological and emotional concerns of children. This study may support the creation of an atmosphere for in-depth research on family interviews of young patients with cancer in Korea. We think that this will contribute as basic data for some guidelines for communication based on the age of children in consultations with patients with terminal cancer.