e-Health in pediatric palliative care

Abstract

e-Health has the potential to improve pediatric palliative care. e-Health initiatives use the Internet or health information technology to improve quality of care and have the potential to decrease costs by reducing medical errors, reducing duplication of services, improving access to diagnostic and laboratory results, and improving communication between providers and patients, and so on. The majority of e-health initiatives are for adults and only a limited amount of evidence exists in the literature on e-health interventions in palliative care that are focused on pediatrics. To explore what role e-health could play in pediatric palliative care programs, this article aims to describe the Internet use in general in the United States and in palliative care, describe the use of health information technology in general in the United States and in palliative care, and suggest areas in pediatric palliative care that might benefit from e-health interventions.