Research Article
Current Situation of Outpatient Palliative Care in Germany
Jens Papke1* and Ute Rosenbaum21Praxis and Day Clinic for Oncology, Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse 6, 01844 Neustadt, Germany
2Westsaechsische Hochschule Zwickau, University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Nursing Sciences, PF 201037, 08012 Zwickau, Germany
- *Corresponding Author:
- Jens Papke
Praxis and Day Clinic for Oncology, Rosa- Luxemburg-Strasse 6
01844 Neustadt/Sachsen, Germany
Tel: 0049-3596- 58530
Fax: 0049-3596-585349
E-mail: mail@drpapke.de
Received date: March 27, 2012; Accepted date: May 11, 2012; Published date: May 13, 2012
Citation: Papke J, Rosenbaum U (2012) Current Situation of Outpatient Palliative Care in Germany. J Palliative Care Med 2:115. doi:10.4172/2165-7386.1000115
Copyright: © 2012 Papke J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
In 2007, over a period of 2 months, 26 outpatient nursing services were surveyed for posts, services offered and experiences in palliative care. Interviews were carried out following a self-developed questionnaire and free conversation. 65% of the services reported insufficient funding of outpatient palliative care. Despite this, 42% were still able to offer specific services in palliative care; 88% offered support around the clock and 54% gave continuous care in the final phase. The fact that 61% of carers realized the need for palliative care was the main reason for these figures. Services networking with clinics, hospice groups and specialised physicians seemed to have a higher success rate in care. All service providers appeared highly motivated and had appropriate qualifications. The main problems appeared to be the poor co-operation between services, inadequate funding, and lack of information in general about palliative care and the lack of structured guidelines for palliative care in the health care system. This could be solved with a prompt introduction of legal guidelines.
