Neonatal palliative care

Introduction: Neonatal palliative care offers improvement in quality of life and relief from suffering for newborns and their families in the face of diagnoses that lead to increased morbidity and mortality.Objective: To describe the profile of the population cared for by the Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) service who were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of a referral hospital in Curitiba, PR, Brazil.Method: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study, based on the analysis of the medical records of patients seen by the service between September 2020 and June 2023. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics.Results: During the selected period, 303 patients were seen, the majority of whom were male (50.8%). The main clinical conditions involved prematurity (35.3%) and diseases of the nervous system (14.5%). Most of the diagnoses were “conditions for which a cure is possible but may fail.” In view of this, it was agreed with family members and staff to limit support for 11.6% of the neonates. Regarding outcomes, 17.6% of the patients died during their stay in the NICU, the remaining patients were medically discharged from the NICU and 9.8% were referred to the pediatric ward before discharge so that the mothers had the opportunity to be trained in the care of their babies.Conclusion: The NICU houses newborns with complex conditions who benefit from the practice of PPC. Therefore, recognizing the profile of these patients allows the team to better direct their actions and, consequently, provide better support for the newborn and their family.