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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.

After years of the palliative care community calling for more open access to hospice services, pediatric patients are now eligible to receive simultaneous hospice services and disease-directed therapy. We report on five types of challenges that our team has experienced when implementing concurrent care, illustrated through case studies of three medically complex pediatric patients.