Palliative care for hospitalized children: perception of the nursing team

Objective: to understand the perception of the nursing team of an intensive care unit and pediatric hospitalization about palliative care for hospitalized children. Methods: a descriptive, qualitative study was conducted with a large hospital pediatric intensive care and hospitalization unit's nursing team. Fourteen nursing professionals participated in the study, including nurses, technicians, and nursing assistants. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and treated under content analysis. Results: The interpretative analysis of the interviews allowed the construction of three categories:"The knowledge of the nursing team about palliative care in pediatrics", "The challenges of the nursing team in performing palliative care in pediatrics", and "The benefits of palliative care in pediatric care from the perspective of the nursing team". Conclusions: The lack of knowledge and training of nursing professionals on palliative care are factors that can hamper their implementation and consolidation process in units that care for children with no possibility of cure, in addition to favoring decisions to be under the responsibility of the medical category, compromising the role of the multidisciplinary team and depriving patients of the benefits of palliative care.