[Pain management in German specialized outpatient palliative care : A cross-sectional study to present the current pain management of palliative patients in the home environment].
Christian Volberg, Julien Corzilius, Julian Maul, Astrid Morin, Martin Gschnell
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: With the help of specialized outpatient palliative care teams (German abbreviation: SAPV), seriously ill and dying patients in Germany can be adequately cared for in their home environment until the end of their lives; however, there are no uniform standards or guidelines for well-executed pain management right now.
Objective: This approach serves as basic research in the field of public health research. This is intended to present which methods (use of different professional groups, use of pain medications, alternative medical treatment etc.) the individual SAPV teams use for pain management. From this it can be deduced which procedures can be considered particularly effective.
Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2021. All German SAPV teams (n = 307) listed on the homepage of the German Association for Palliative Medicine (DGP) were contacted by post and invited to participate. A total of 175 teams (57%) responded to the request and were included in the evaluation. A descriptive data analysis was performed.
Results: Pain management in the German outpatient care of palliative patients is based on several components. All common pain medications are used, but primarily metamizole (99.4%) as a non-opioid analgesic, morphine (98.3%) from the opiate series and pregabalin (96.6%) as a co-analgesic are mainly prescribed. If pain therapy fails, 22.5% of the SAPV teams perform palliative sedation for symptom control on a regular basis.
Conclusion: This cross-sectional study is the first of its kind to provide a general overview of the treatment options for pain management in German outpatient palliative care. In comparison with international studies, the question arises as to whether uniform therapy schemes and a reduction in the medication available in the individual SAPV teams could lead to an improvement in patient care.
期刊介绍:
Der Schmerz is an internationally recognized journal and addresses all scientists, practitioners and psychologists, dealing with the treatment of pain patients or working in pain research. The aim of the journal is to enhance the treatment of pain patients in the long run.
Review articles provide an overview on selected topics and offer the reader a summary of current findings from all fields of pain research, pain management and pain symptom management.
Freely submitted original papers allow the presentation of important clinical studies and serve the scientific exchange.
Case reports feature interesting cases and aim at optimizing diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.
Review articles under the rubric ''Continuing Medical Education'' present verified results of scientific research and their integration into daily practice.