Neonatal-perinatal palliative care is a specialized interdisciplinary approach focusing on the quality of life for newborns and families facing life-limiting, life-threatening, or concerning neonatal diagnoses. Care and support is provided and continued irrespective of the treatment options and goals of care. This field recognizes that complex medical conditions are often associated with uncertain prognoses and emphasizes care that addresses the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of both neonates and their families.

This Collection aims to explore various dimensions of neonatal-perinatal palliative care, including clinical practices, ethical considerations, and family support. Many newborns are diagnosed with complex conditions that require focusing on value driven medical care that may include attention to invasive medical interventions, comfort care, or some degrees of medical interventions. These goals often evolve and shift over time. An important component of this total care is often end of life care with a focus on bonding, memory-making and symptom relief. While perinatal and neonatal palliative care programs are widely available, there is a pressing need for standardized guidelines and quality measures to ensure consistent and effective care. Advancing our collective understanding is key to improving the quality of life for both infants and their families during challenging times.

With this in mind, BMC Palliative Care is opening this Collection on Neonatal-perinatal palliative care. Areas of focus include:

• Best practices in neonatal palliative care

• Birth planning in cases of uncertain or life limiting fetal diagnoses

• Family-centered approaches in end-of-life neonatal care

• Standardized care guidelines and polices for perinatal bereavement and palliative care

• Ethical considerations in neonatal palliative care

• Training healthcare professionals in the paradigms of palliative care

• Neonatal-perinatal palliative care education and program development

• The involvement of palliative care in fetal care centers

• The impact of the medico-legal landscape (abortion, personhood, born-alive protections) on neonatal-perinatal palliative care

• Disparities in neonatal-perinatal palliative care

• Religious and cultural considerations in neonatal-perinatal palliative care

• Neonatal organ donation and autopsies

• Advances symptom management in neonates

• Outcomes and care of medically complex neonatal diagnoses with a multidisciplinary perspective

BMC Palliative Care is calling for submissions to our new Collection on “Palliative care and caregiving: burdens and support.” Caregivers play a crucial role in enhancing the quality of life and other outcomes for individuals with serious and life-limiting illnesses and their families. Caregivers, whether family members or paid staff, often face significant emotional, physical, and financial burdens. This Collection aims to highlight the spectrum of caregiver experiences and challenges, exploring the support systems available, the gaps in meeting their unique needs, and the benefits of addressing those needs.

Understanding the range of challenges experienced by caregivers is essential for developing effective support mechanisms that can alleviate stress, burden, and improve quality of life and overall well-being. Recent advancements have begun to focus on caregiver support programs and interventions, which emphasize the importance of mental health resources and social support. Research has also illuminated the need for integrating caregiver perspectives into palliative care policy and practice, ensuring that caregivers receive the recognition and assistance they deserve.

We welcome research on the challenges faced by caregivers of individuals with serious and life-limiting illnesses and the ways they can receive support, which can lead to improved outcomes not only for the caregivers themselves but also for the patients they serve. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Challenges faced by caregivers of individuals with serious and life-limiting illnesses

Impact of caregiver well-being on patient outcomes

Interventions for caregivers, such as technology-assisted interventions, community-based programs, or innovative policies

Family vs. paid caregiver experiences

All manuscripts submitted to this journal, including those submitted to collections and special issues, are assessed in line with our editorial policies and the journal’s peer review process. Reviewers and editors are required to declare competing interests and can be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3, Good Health and Well-Being.