Subject: care for a terminally ill child

Kowacka Ewa. Subject: care for a terminally ill child. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2019;9(2):79-90. eISNN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2558166 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/6566 https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/sedno-webapp/works/902900 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part b item 1223 (26/01/2017). 1223 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eissn 2391-8306 7 © The Authors 2019; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 16.01.2019. Revised: 30.01.2019. Accepted: 06.02.2019. SUBJECT: CARE FOR A TERMINALLY ILL CHILD Ewa Kowacka Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach Wydział Lekarski I Nauk o Zdrowiu Key words: terminal illness; child. Abstract A terminal illness of a child is a traumatic experience for both the child and the family. The illness destroys their current life, The terminally ill patient experiences total pain, which includes not only physical pain caused by lesions, but also psychological, social and spiritual one. The terminal disease of a child is an exceptional experience also for medical staff, for whom it cannot be an ordinary medical case. The terminally ill patient requires an HPC environment, in which the death perspective is inscribed. The whole environment of a terminally ill child, both family and medical staff, should follow the rules of thanatopedagogy, a discipline whose subject is education for good dying, or with respect for the subjectivity and dignity of a person facing death. HPC, regardless of whether it is performed in home, hospital or hospice settings, it must be closely correlated with support for the closest family of a terminally ill child, especially parents and siblings. Only then it can be an effective support group for the child, a factor raising the quality of life in dying, which is the main goal of HPC