Advances in medicine have led to an increased life expectancy even with complex disease courses of malignant diseases. This leads to frequent critical situations for patients and high risk surgical interventions. The majority of patients and their practitioners are not prepared for the consequences of a complex and possibly fatal course. Palliative medicine makes it possible to anticipate the further course of the disease. As a result, palliative medicine has become increasingly important. The beginning of palliative medical interventions has extended from accompaniment limited to the dying phase to earlier phases of the disease. An early integration of palliative medicine showed a positive effect on the quality of life, the degree of depression and survival in patients suffering from cancer, for example. Furthermore, patients were more able to accept a change in therapy goal at the end of life. Similar results were shown for patients with a non-malignant severe disease such as COPD or heart failure. What needs further investigating is how to adequately screen and identify the patient populations who could benefit from early palliative care, so that they are prepared for potentially critical and life-threatening situations. The investigator's objective is therefore whether the Anesthesiology Outpatient Clinic is a suitable screening location for initiating early integrated palliative care for patients with a serious, life-shortening illness and a high perioperative risk.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
100
Department of Anesthesia and operative intensive Care, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Charité - University Hospital Berlin
Steglitz, State of Berlin, Germany
RECRUITINGAcceptance of the preoperative palliative counseling offer
Percentage of patients who accept the palliative counseling offer in relation to the total number of patients identified in the screening of the anesthesia outpatient clinic
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
Advance planning documents
Percentage of patients who, as a result of the palliative medical consultation offer, create or want to create a living will or power of attorney
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
Postoperative palliative counseling
Percentage of patients who would like further palliative medical advice postoperatively
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
Acceptance of the preoperative palliative counseling offer depending on the underlying disease
Percentage of patients with and without a malignant disease who accept the counseling offer
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
Therapy target decision-making situations
Percentage of patients in whom a decision to limit therapy occurs in the postoperative course
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
Gender difference
Percentage of female patients who accept the counseling offer in relation to male patients
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
Therapy goal decisions postoperatively
Percentage of patients who do not accept the offer of counseling and who have difficult therapy goal decisions postoperatively
Time frame: through study completion, an average of 1 year
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