Bonita F. Stanton, MD, Consulting Editor

“Born” in 2003, Pediatric Hospital Medicine (PHM) is the cornerstone of inpatient management in many pediatric wards and hospitals—and has a presence in most. In this issue, Mary Ottolini and colleagues clearly describe the range of clinical roles and activities conducted and overseen by today’s PHM specialists, including communication and coordinating with primary care physicians and other specialists, facilitating shared decision-making with families, and carrying out hospital-based procedures, such as pediatric sedation. PHM specialists provide care to all hospitalized children, including children with chronic life-threatening illnesses. In their care of these children, they form close partnerships with PPC specialists.

The discipline of PPC medicine has emerged with the growth of a bewildering array of clinical options and technologies that can extend life for children with life-threatening diseases. PPC specialists help the PHM specialists and primary care pediatric providers, and the families of children with life-threatening illnesses (as well as the children themselves), navigate through these options to assure that the child’s needs and the families’ desires are being met. In this issue, Ullrich and colleagues artfully describe their approach to optimizing the care and well-being of these children and their families, while prolonging life and providing end-of-life support. The PPC provider achieves these goals through continual learning of new advances, communication with and education of the family, child and hospital-based and community-based providers, and frequent reassessment of child and family. PPC specialists function inside and outside of the hospital setting, although often the family and primary care pediatric provider meet the PPC provider in the hospital setting.

PHM and PPC specialists are critical members of the family of pediatric care providers. These articles provide a clear description of the great value they bring to our profession and to the children under our care.