Fundamental Principles of Effective Symptom Management in Neonatal Palliative Care

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the core principles of symptom management rather than providing detailed management for potential symptoms. Although much of this chapter focuses on facilitating care delivery outside the busy, high tech neonatal unit environment, these core principles are transferrable between care settings such as hospital, hospice and home. Symptom management planning is a skilled task, developed through good assessment, sound clinical judgement and specialist knowledge. Successful symptom management requires the healthcare professional to anticipate a baby’s care needs and provide an informed choice for and empowerment of families. This, coupled with thorough holistic assessment enables care planning to address the current symptoms, anticipatory planning for any likely symptoms associated with the baby’s specific condition and advance care planning to identify the hopes, ambitions and wishes of parents in terms of their participation in care provision, their views on the location of care and any desired limitations to care. When these factors are achieved, high quality neonatal palliative care can be delivered to reduce symptom burden and maximise quality of life for both the baby and their family.