Education and training
Paediatric palliative medicine was recognized in the UK as a subspecialty of paediatrics in 2009. Unusually amongst paediatric subspecialties, paediatric palliative medicine is defined by the needs of individual patients, rather than by their diagnosis or diseased organ system (which may indeed not be known), and competencies in paediatric palliative medicine often overlap with those in other paediatric specialties, as well as with adult palliative medicine and palliative care. This chapter describes the four levels of competence currently recognized in palliative medicine, as well as provides information on the small, but growing, number of curriculums in paediatric palliative medicine. This includes the competencies required by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Association for Paediatric Palliative Medicine.