Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Palliative Medicine
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
0269216309102987v1
23/4/369    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wiese, C.
Right arrow Articles by Hanekop, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Wiese, C.
Right arrow Articles by Hanekop, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

case-report

Treatment of palliative care emergencies by prehospital emergency physicians in Germany: an interview based investigation

CHR Wiese

Department of Anaesthesiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, chrwiese{at}gmx.de

UE Bartels

Medical Centre of the City of Nürnberg

D Ruppert

Department of Anaesthesiology, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine University of Göttingen, Göttingen

H Marung

Emergency Medical Care Department of the City of Braunschweig

T Luiz

Emergency Medical Care Department of the City of Kaiserslautern

BM Graf

Department of Anaesthesiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg

GG Hanekop

Department of Anaesthesiology, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine University of Göttingen, Göttingen

Palliative care medical emergencies as a consequence of advanced cancer account for approximately 3% of all prehospital emergency cases. Therefore, prehospital emergency physicians (EP) are confronted with ‘end of life decisions’. No educational content exists concerning palliative medicine in emergency medicine curricula. Over the course of 6 months, we interviewed 150 EPs about their experiences in ‘end of life decisions’ using a specific questionnaire. The total response rate was 69% (n = 104). Most of the interviewed EPs (89%, n = 93) had been confronted with palliative care medical emergencies and expressed uncertainties in dealing with these difficult situations, especially in the area of psychosocial care of the patients (50%). The emergency treatment of palliative care patients can become a particular challenge for any EP. A large percentage of interviewed EPs felt uncertain about aspects of social care and in the assessment of decisions at the end of life. Further information and training are necessary to amenable EPs to provide adequate patient-oriented care to palliative care patients and their relatives in emergency situations.

Key Words: emergency medicine • end of life decision • palliative care emergency • palliative care team • palliative medicine • prehospital emergency physician

This version was published on June 1, 2009

Palliative Medicine, Vol. 23, No. 4, 369-373 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0269216309102987
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?