Palliative care is, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), "a global ethical responsibility" and crucial to person-centered healthcare, for the relief of physical and psychological symptoms and social and spiritual suffering, impacting the improvement of the quality of life not only of pediatric and adult patients dealing with life-threatening illnesses, but also of their families. Despite the growing recognition of palliative care in the hematological setting and the increase in the number of publications on the subject, the available data are still scarce and limited. The objective of this consensus is to establish recommendations for the referral of pediatric and adult hematological patients to specialized palliative care teams and the possible integration of these two specialties.
Ferreira et al. (Wed,) studied this question.