Chairs

Goal Statement

To provide timely and standardized optimal multidisciplinary supportive care

Key Focus Areas

To develop consensus guidelines/SOPs for nutrition assessment and management

Optimize management of fever and febrile neutropenia

• Template for febrile neutropenia management.
• Fever Registry.
• Quality Improvement initiative.

Implement and test PEWS

Implement infection control bundles/ WHO Hand Hygiene

Glimpses of Work

(a) To develop consensus guidelines/SOPs for nutrition assessment and management.

Context

Despite advances in the field of pediatric oncology, which have contributed to an overall increase in event-free survival, high rates of malnutrition in low-middle income countries (LMICs) is still a major concern. Recent studies from LMIC have shown the prevalence of malnutrition (over and under nutrition) to be as high as 50% and to increase from 5.8% to 47% during treatment for childhood cancer. Similarly for children with cancer living in developing countries, malnutrition is a major issue, with the prevalence of under-nutrition in LMIC believed to be between 8% and 43%.

Purpose

Creation of nutritional care guidelines for paediatric cancer will help to reduce the impact on morbidity and mortality from childhood cancer associated with nutritional changes by training health professionals within the framework of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer.

Status/Next Steps

A draft document is created, a physical meeting with 30 members is being planned to complete and conclude the work done on development of guidelines.

(b) Optimize management of fever and febrile neutropenia

Context

A child suffering from cancer is at a risk of developing fever and infection and this is a major cause of concern for the patient and family. There is a challenge in accessing health care when a child develops any of these. The ICCI taskforce aims to develop a SOP for management of fever, which will help the patient and family to understand what needs to be done when the patient is at home, at local hospital and at a treating centre.

Purpose

A SOP for management of fever is developed by taskforce and a physical meeting was held on 25th May in Bangalore

Status/Next Steps

To develop a pathway of management when a patient develops fever.