Developed in partnership with the Pediatric Palliative Care Alliance, this series is designed to build pediatric palliative care capacity within generalist settings. It aims to help non-palliative care and non-pediatric specialists feel more comfortable supporting children with serious illnesses and their families, connecting them with the knowledge, resources, and networks they need to provide compassionate care close to home.
Upcoming sessions include:
Pediatric Palliative Care: How Can You Play a Role?: October 9, 2025, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET.
Children with serious illness and their families benefit from palliative care, which addresses complex needs that are physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. Yet only about 1% of Canadian children require palliative care, and only 1% of all Canadians who need palliative care are children. As a result, most healthcare professionals have little direct experience at the intersection of pediatrics and palliative care, even though their involvement can make a crucial difference.
At the same time, the need for pediatric palliative care is growing: children with serious illnesses are surviving longer than ever before and living their lives outside of specialist children’s hospitals and are in homes, schools, and communities across the country. Their care requires a network of collaborative care providers across care environments and specialties including symptom management, communication, care coordination, and family support.
This session will explore how professionals in palliative care, primary care, subspecialty medicine, and community settings can bring their expertise to many aspects of pediatric palliative care, while also building confidence in new skills and knowing when to connect with specialized teams. The session will also highlight Canada’s Pediatric Palliative Care Alliance and its new bilingual, pan-Canadian Resource Hub, designed to equip healthcare professionals with tools and guidance to strengthen collaboration and advance equitable access to high-quality PPC for children.
More sessions coming soon!