Abstract

VILLASIS KEEVER, Miguel Angel; RENDON MACIAS, Mario Enrique  and  ESCAMILLA NUNEZ, Alberto. Standards for providing optimal care in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant. Mex. [online]. 2012, vol.69, n.3, pp.164-174. ISSN 1665-1146.

Background. Programs for the prevention and management of disease complications and antineoplastic treatment have contributed to improve quality of life and survival of pediatric cancer patients. Despite the above, it remains unclear how to maintain or improve the quality of care. We undertook this study to determine international criteria that establish standards for the optimal management of pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) by conducting a review of the literature. Methods. We searched Medline and Google. From the search, we did not identify specific publications for ALL or HL, but the criteria applied for all pediatric cancer patients. Information compiled for each publication is described qualitatively according to three general aspects that determine the quality of medical care: infrastructure, process and outcome. Results. We selected 21 publications. Nineteen publications describe elements that must be present in all medical units for pediatric patients with cancer. Regarding infrastructure, it is necessary to have multidisciplinary health care professionals specialized in pediatric oncology patients and to have appropriate facilities and supplies. Whereas the process of care includes identifying and providing appropriate treatment for complications at any time, availability of treatment protocols proven to be effective and continuous training for staff, as well as a program for evaluation of the quality of care. Two publications reported that after implementing most of the elements described, there is decrease in mortality of children with cancer in developing countries. Conclusions. Although the number of elements for the provision of optimal care for children with cancer is high, their implementation contributes to the improvement of quality of care and survival.

Keywords : standards of care; quality of care; childhood cancer; survival..

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