2023-06-05 08:21:45
The shortage of palliative care, the insomnia of the little ones or the innovations in pediatric care are some of the topics on which the Congress of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics has focused
The meeting organized by the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP), that has been held during the first three days of June in Granada, has brought together more than 2000 pediatricians with the aim of address in a global approach issues, issues and challenges of pediatric care.
The president of the AEP, Luis Carlos Blesa, has highlighted in this scientific meeting the importance of reinforcing the health system with more resources and more personnel.
Otherwise, he assures, we could witness a collapse at the care level that will spread to the rest of the healthcare levels.
“We believe that better pediatric care is possible, but there is an urgent need to harmonize various forces and
promote sociocultural change. This inertia cannot be maintained, no matter how uncomfortable and unpopular it may be”, remarked the president of the paediatricians.
Pediatric palliative care is insufficient
It is estimated that at least 25,000 children in Spain are candidates for pediatric palliative care. However, only 20% receive them effectively.
Dr. Olga Escobosa Sánchez, from the Pediatric Palliative Care and Home Care area of the Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital in Granada, assures that many patients live in autonomous communities with very limited resources.
Many times, although there is a palliative care unit, the movement capacity of both the medical team and the patient is limited by geographical dispersion, the doctor assures.
The patients who most demand this type of care are mainly children with neurological problems such as cerebral palsy for whom death is not expected in the short term.
to offer some optimal palliative care Different multidisciplinary teams made up of a paediatrician, a nurse, a psychologist and a social worker need to work together and, when possible, supported by spiritual advisers and volunteers.
These palliative care teams advanced are seen more and more in Spain. Nevertheless, They are not present in all provinces And that is a great challenge to work on in order to improve pediatric care, underlines Dr. Escobosa Sánchez, who also calls for more training in this area within the body of health professionals.
Childhood insomnia could be prevented in 90% of cases
At least one in three children in Spain suffers from chronic problems falling asleep or staying asleep. Experts have highlighted that one of the motives most frequent is the adaptation of children to sleep schedules parental.
Within the framework of the congress, professionals have exhibited five effective strategies so that parents can fight childhood insomnia:
- Ignoring the child’s protests when going to bed or waking up during the night.
- Reward the child when he sleeps well: positive reinforcements help to prolong the period of sleep.
- Temporarily delay bedtime.
- Wake up the child at specific times. In other words, gently move the child, without completely waking him up, just before he ends his sleep cycle and wakes up to get him to join the other cycle without staying up all night.
- Give the child interchangeable cards for actions such as a story, a song or drinking water. Agree with the child that once they are finished she should go to sleep.
However, according to doctors, the first measure to be taken against childhood insomnia is sleep education instruction for parents so that they can encourage children to have regular hours of dream eliminating screens and sports late in the day.
Other proposals on pediatrics suggested by experts in Congress
Introduce potentially allergenic foods into the children’s diet early
Approximately one in ten children has an allergy. The number of minors with allergic reactions to certain foods progressively increases by 2% each year.
Until recently, the most common treatment to combat a food allergy was strict food avoidance, which restricted and limited the daily routine of the children.
However, since 2010 some allergies are treated by oral immunotherapy to food. Oral tolerance induction, as it is commonly known, consists of giving the child a very low dose of an allergenic food in a hospital environment. If the child tolerates the dose, it should be maintained.
Thus, experts defend that allergies to certain foods can be treated by administering the food through a controlled and follow-up protocol. The result is positive because in most cases tolerance is achieved.
Decalogue to emotionally help children in a process of family separation
According to pediatricians, the risk of suffering a psychological pathology doubles in the children of separated parents girls being more prone to anxiety and depression problems, while boys tend to have more behavioral problems.
Along these lines, the AEP has drawn up a decalogue to help children in a separation process.
- Keep in mind that children are not owned by anyone. Parents are responsible for caring for them and ensuring their physical, psychological and social well-being.
- Do not make children act as messengers.
- Both parents have the obligation to speak with all those professionals who help, treat or assist their children (teachers, doctor, psychologist, etc.).
- Children should not be used as an instrument to harm other people.
- Children need someone to listen to them, they need to prove that their feelings matter.
- It hurts children when their parents are badmouthed.
- Avoid making immature, absurd and/or ridiculous decisions for reasons of pride.
- Show interest in your son by asking him if he had a good time with your ex.
- The title “dad” and “mom” are put by the children. Make merits of it.
- A separation/divorce is a very stressful event and one should not hesitate to seek help from a professional.
Innovations that improve pediatric treatment and care
A Revolutionary Treatment to “Cure” 70% of Cystic Fibrosis Patients
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common fatal genetic disease in pediatrics. Until now, life expectancy did not exceed 40 or 50 years. However, just over a year ago the first treatments to ‘attack’ the origin of the disease were approved in Spain.
These modulatory treatments against CF are administered in pills and with them the patients begin to notice benefits within a few days from the start of treatment.
In addition, patients who are administered this therapy early, from an early age, will have the life expectancy of any healthy child.
CAR-T therapies break cancer barriers
The chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) causes immune cells called cells T (white blood cells) fight cancer.
In CAR-T cell therapies, T cells are obtained from the patient’s blood and modified in the laboratory through a viral vector that carries genetic information so that they express proteins on their membrane that allow them to adhere to cancer cells. almost exclusively, and eliminate them.
This therapy has been great revolution in recent years. To date, more than 85% of the pediatric patients to whom it has been applied respond to treatment, approximately 50% maintain this response at two years and around 40% at five years.
The AEP asks to guarantee the quality of pediatric care
Today, it is estimated that up to un 30% of children are cared for by professionals other than pediatricians due to the lack of at least 1,300 pediatric professionals in the consultations of the
health, according to the indications of the professionals themselves. This hinders the quality of pediatric care.
The Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) Congress has not missed the opportunity to make claims and raise the voice about the deterioration in which primary care pediatricians work and about the quality of child and adolescent health care.
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