Background
Caring for children receiving palliative care, and who die, can be a challenging experience for health professionals.  Reviewing the care provided to a child who dies can be done in a supportive and structured way through a clinical death review process.

Aim
The goal of this presentation is to highlight how a formal death review can allow for both quality improvement and also peer support at the same time

Method
A real life clinical death review will be presented on a case to highlight both structure of review and complexity of care provided to the child.  This includes aspects such as diagnosis, timing of referral to palliative care, symptom management, psychosocial care, bereavement support and location of care.  A reflective aspect to the review is incorporated by allowing team members to also comment on “what it was like to care for the child and their family”, and what they remembered about the child or family.

Results / Findings
Through undertaking a clinical death review it is possible to identify both aspects of care that went very well, as well as areas that could be improved for the future.  The extended time frame over which palliative care was provided to the current patient meant that many goals were able to be achieved during this time (e.g. writing a book and fundraising).  Other aspects of care that went well included a pop-up visit to the patient’s regional town to support the nursing team and community.  The family also felt let down by the health system at times, and this was also reflected on by the team in how care for future patients could be modified.