Last Days of Life: Paediatric & Neonatal Toolkit

The Last Days of Life: Paediatric & Neonatal (LDOL: P&N) Toolkit provide best practice guidance to clinicians who may care for a dying child or neonate in an acute care setting or hospice.

The Toolkit contains a suite of tools that strengthen the three key domains to support the provision of high quality end of life care.

These include:

• Recognising dying and initiating last days of life management
• Symptom management
• Information and communication for families 

Documents developed for the LDOL: P&N Toolkit include:

• Guidance Document (NH700771)
• Compass (NH700653)
• Document 1- Initiating LDOL: P&N Management Plan (NH700651)
• Document 2- Anticipatory Prescribing Recommendations (NH700654)
• Document 3- Comfort Observation and Symptom Assessment (COSA: P&N) (NH700652)
• Document 4- Management of Pain (NH700656)
• Document 5- Management of Nausea and Vomiting (NH700650)
• Document 6- Management of Breathlessness (NH700655)

LDOL: P&N Information Sheets 

Information Sheets may be used to support clinician’s discussion or be given to parent/carer

N.B. Careful consideration should be given to the relevance and timing of provision

• Information sheets: A guide for health professionals (2.8MB pdf)
• Asking questions can help (324kb pdf)
• What happens in the last days of life (341kb pdf)
• Medicines in the last days of life (339kb pdf)
• Taking your child home to die (328kb pdf)
• Supporting someone who is caring for a dying child (334kb pdf)
• Siblings and the last days of life (344kb pdf)
• When a child dies at home (326kb pdf)
• When a child dies in hospital (326 kb pdf)
• Arranging a funeral for a child or adolescent (336kb pdf)
• Arranging a funeral for a baby (331kb pdf)
• Managing lactation and breastfeeding (325kb pdf)
• Understanding your grief (333kb pdf)

The Toolkit promotes a standardised, equitable, and safe approach to end of life care. A standardised approach enables a child to receive a high level of care regardless of the clinician’s experience and the hospital setting.

The information contained in the Toolkit provides best practice guidance. However, the information is general and cannot consider all the complexities present at end of life. 

The LDOL: P&N Toolkit documents can be ordered through Stream Solution (refer to NH number when ordering).

The LDOL: P&N Infomration Sheets can be printed from this website as required.

For support with the LDOL: P&N Toolkit or advice about the care of a dying child or neonate, assistance is available from the local Specialist Paediatric Palliative Care (SPPC) team or if after-hours, contact SPPC via any of the NSW Children’s Hospital’s switchboards.

COMING SOON- Last Days of Life: Paediatric & Neonatal educational HETI Module