O-86 Allow natural death/te wa aroha – advanced care planning in paediatric palliative care

Abstract

Background and aims Starship Chidren’s Hospital instigated a new paediatric end of life care plan which incorporates the words «Allow Natural Death» to replace«Do Not Resuscitate or «Not for Resuscitation». Due to the committment to biculturalism in New Zealand participation and advice was sought from Maori leadership who gifted the words Te Wa Aroha (a time of love) to paediatric end of life care plans. The aim of this paper is to show that the use Allow Natural Death enhances family understanding and ability to engage in end of life care planning for their children. Methods This paper will report the findings of an audit of end of life care plans for children at Starship Children’s hospital. Results By doing an audit of end of life care plans the author hopes to demonstrate the importance of the language used in end of life care planning for children. Discussion Removing negative language from end of life care discussions may help families focus on end of life care that focuses on reducing suffering and the promotion of comfort, quality and dignity for their child. Effective end of life care planning may also lead to a greater number of families choosing to have their child die at home rather than in hospitals. Conclusion Te Wa Aroha/Allow Natural Death has been integrated and leads to a more open discussion about dying and death in the paediatric setting.