Welcome to Pathways to Enhanced Pediatric Palliative Care, the research program of Dr. Kimberley Widger

This website is about my program of research: ‘Pathways to Enhanced Pediatric Palliative Care.’ The overall goal of my research is to examine and enhance the quality of palliative care provided to children living with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

Why Pathways?

Pediatric palliative care focuses on alleviating the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual suffering experienced by children and families while promoting quality of life, fostering family connections, and sustaining hope despite the possibility of death. It is a family-centered approach that includes shared decision-making and sensitivity to the family’s cultural and spiritual values, beliefs, and practices. The principles of palliative care can and should be incorporated from diagnosis of any life-threatening illness and continue throughout the disease to ensure relief of suffering and good quality of life regardless of whether the child is ultimately cured of the disease or not.