Palliative care answers the challenges of transitioning serious illness of childhood to adult medicine

Advances in the field of medicine have improved the overall life expectancy in children. Consequently, many children with previously lethal diseases now live into adulthood. There is an urgent need to develop approaches that assist with the transition of care from pediatrics to adult medicine. Palliative care, by virtue of its unique skills, is ideally positioned to play a part in this transition. This report will summarize the urgency for proper transition modalities and then introduce palliative care as a proposed solution for current challenges in transition. Along the way, it will touch on financial and workforce obstacles to this solution and will offer a potential funding option.