June 2004

Health Care for Seriously Ill Children and Their Families

EDC Videos Win Prestigious Film Awards

Several videos from EDC’s Initiative for Pediatric Palliative Care (IPPC) have won awards from some of filmmaking’s most prestigious festivals and competitions. The videos are part of IPPC’s new curriculum in pediatric palliative care, designed to improve the competence of health care professionals in responding to the emotional and psychosocial needs of very ill children and their families.

“The most recent awards are from the Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival, one of the oldest and largest independent video and film festivals in the world,” said David Browning, director of IPPC. “The level of recognition we are receiving is quite extraordinary, especially given that these videos were designed for use in the context of a health care curriculum, yet they are also being acknowledged as independent films."

Created in collaboration with children's hospitals and bereaved family members from around the country, the films present interviews with parents and their children about their experiences with health care professionals, as well as conversations between practitioners and parents about the challenging issues they face in caring for a seriously ill child. They are used as part of IPPC’s comprehensive, interdisciplinary curriculum to focus on knowledge, attitudes and skills that health care professionals need in order to better serve children and families. That curriculum can be downloaded free of charge from IPPC's Web site www.ippcweb.org.

"There is no loss more difficult than the loss of a child, and no area of health care more challenging than the care of children with life-threatening conditions," says IPPC principal investigator Millie Solomon, EDC Vice President and associate clinical professor of Social Medicine, Medical Ethics & Anesthesia, at Harvard Medical School. "The unique structure of our approach is a response to calls for a more patient and family-centered approach to the education of physicians and other health care professionals."

IPPC is also very proud that its videos also focus on the experience of professional caregivers in doing this difficult work, says Browning. “The films and accompanying materials acknowledge their needs and their grief. Health care professionals feel privileged to do the work, yet they also suffer.”

The following videos received awards:

There’s Gotta Be Another Way
Aegis Award for Video Production Excellence, bronze award. The Aegis competition features peer judging by film industry professionals.

This video presents a dramatization of a conversation between health care professionals and parents of an 8-year-old patient. Parents raise and professionals respond to common fears and concerns regarding opioid pain medications.

Speaking the Same Language
WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, gold award. This festival, one of the oldest and largest film and video competitions in the world, emphasizes independent films and is directed and run by filmmakers.

Finalist, Telly Awards, which honor local regional and cable television commercials and programs, as well as video productions.

In this video, Dean and Inez Davis, guardians of nine grandchildren, recount their experience with their granddaughter, Sherquanda, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died at age 9. They discuss the centrality of trust, respect, and caring in relationships between health care professionals and families facing the death of a child.

Knowing Who We Are (What Matters to Families)
Finalist, Telly Awards; Caregiver Friendly Award, Today’s Caregiver Magazine

Rebecca Lilly died at age 16 after a six-year battle with brain cancer. Rebecca's parents and siblings relate their relationships with the health care system and express needs and concerns often identified by families coping with the life-threatening illness of a child.

Difficult Conversations in Pediatric Palliative Care
Finalist, Telly Awards; WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, silver award

This video presents a series of scenarios involving end-of-life conversations between practitioners and children/families. This three-part video introduces an innovative educational approach for developing clinicians' communication and relational skills.

I Need It To Make Sense: Reflections on Caring for Dying Children and Their Families Finalist, Telly Awards; Caregiver Friendly Award, Today’s Caregiver Magazine

In this video, health care professionals from a variety of disciplines discuss the emotional and spiritual impact of working in pediatric palliative care.

Read a feature article about the curriculum and its videos.

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