Guideline Video

Guideline Resources

  • Care and Management of Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Patients at the End of Life
  • Society of Critical Care Medicine
  • March 20, 2026
  • Summary
  • Full-text

Video Transcription

Just published March 20th, 2026, the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s newest guideline on  Care and Management of Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Patients at the End of Life.

The objective of this guideline is to develop and provide evidence-based recommendations for end of life care and management of critically ill neonatal and pediatric patients and their families.

In today’s rapid update we’ll just be going over the recommendations, so for the full guideline, make sure to check it out on guidelinecentral.com

Let’s get started. 

  • The guideline suggests implementing an advance care planning process for pediatric patients and parents of infants and children with life-threatening or life-limiting illness. 
  • The guideline suggests pediatric palliative care consultation for children and infants with life-limiting or life-threatening illness. 
  • The guideline suggests using a systematic approach to symptom assessment and management to meet patient and family goals for end of life or EOL care vs. an ad hoc approach to symptom management. 
  • The guideline suggests palliative care education for staff caring for children and infants with life-limiting or life-threatening illness. 
  • The guideline suggests implementing a bereavement care process for children/infants and their families/caregivers during or after death. 
  • Pediatric and neonatal clinicians should actively address disparities in pediatric EOL care by eliminating barriers to high-quality palliative care for all patients and families with particular attention to communities and/or populations that have been marginalized based on race, ethnicity, preferred language, country of origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious and spiritual identity, etc. through: 1) recognition and mitigation of personal biases with an attitude of cultural humility, 2) identifying and addressing structural racism and institutionalized discrimination, and 3) engagement of patient, family, and community perspectives and experiences in the care process. 

And there you have it. Make sure to check out the full guideline from the Society of Critical Care Medicine and other related clinical decision support tools at guidelinecentral.com.

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