Implementation of a palliative care team in an Austrian university hospital

Abstract

Implementation of hospital-based palliative care team is a new subject in German-speaking areas, especially in university hospitals. Our Section of Palliative Care was subsequently built up to a 12-bed palliative care unit, a home-based, and a hospital-based palliative care team. Analysis of the implementation strategies, development of the working profile, and documentation of the hospital-based palliative care team were done. During the first 2 years, quality and number of inquiries for palliative care increased significantly. In our opinion, a high degree of expertise, involvement of the nursing staff, and personal contact play a key role for a successful implementation of a palliative care team in a large university hospital.

Characteristics of a palliative care consultation service with a focus on pain in a German university hospital

“…In addition, the term "consultation service" is not used homogeneously in the context of the palliative care [2,16,17,22,23]. The distribution of diagnosed cancer entities and the high relevance of cancer pain we found is similar to what was reported in other studies [8,23,24], as were the recommendations that were made.…”

“…Even if structures and involvement of PCCS have been examined in other studies, little is known about the working profile of these services in German hospitals [13,15-17]. Precise information about the concept and mode of action of these services might be necessary to improve hospital infrastructure and care pathways.…”

The impact of the palliative care mobile team on symptom assessment and medication profiles in patients admitted to a comprehensive cancer center

“…The median number (inter-quartile) of ESAS symptoms with score ≥1 is 8 (6)(7)(8)(9). The median number (inter-quartile) of ESAS symptoms with score ≥5 is 4 (2)(3)(4)(5).Other presenting symptoms were confusion in 29 patients, constipation in 49, hallucinations in 10, and xerostomia in 8.…”

“…One approach is palliative care consultation teams. Indeed, in recent years, tertiary care hospitals and cancer centers have shown great interest in forming such teams [1][2][3][4][5]. However, there is limited information about the clinical findings made by such teams, information that would be helpful in putting together such teams and the type of knowledge the team members should have.…”

Angehörigenbefragung zum Sterben im Krankenhaus: Ein Vergleich zwischen Abteilungen für innere Medizin und Palliativstationen in der Steiermark (Österreich)

“…Zentrale Bestandteile der Versorgungs und Sterbensqua lität sind dabei einerseits die klinische Versorgung, die auf eine Ver ringerung des Leidens sowie eine Aufrechterhaltung der Würde, Persönlichkeit und Autonomie des Patienten ausgerichtet ist, und andererseits das Ermöglichen der Anwesenheit von nahestehen den Angehörigen sowie die adäquate Kommunikation und Vorbe reitung der Angehörigen durch Ärzte und Pflegepersonal [7]. Die Einrichtung palliativmedizinischer Abteilungen in Krankenhäusern ist eng mit dem Ziel einer in dieser Hinsicht verbesserten Versor gungs und Sterbensqualität schwerkranker Patienten verbunden [8,9]. Inwieweit sich Versorgungs und Sterbensqualität zwischen Palliativstationen und Stationen der inneren Medizin jedoch unter scheiden, ist bislang in Österreich noch nicht empirisch untersucht worden.…”