Palliative care education and knowledge transfer into practice - a multicenter survey among medical students and resident physicians in Germany using a mixed-methods design.

Objective: In 2009, Palliative care was incorporated into the medical curriculum as Cross-Sectional Subject 13 (QB13) by means of the revision of the Medical Licensing Regulations for Physicians. The aim of this study was to determine the strengths and deficits of QB13 student education for palliative care in clinical practice in a multi-centre setting and to identify potential for improvement.

Methods: Online questionnaires filled out by medical students during their Practical Year (PY) and resident physicians from the university hospitals in Aachen, Düsseldorf, and Cologne were descriptively analyzed using SPSS; free-text responses were categorized and quantified.

[Guideline-based Care for patients with malignant lesions : The new S3 guideline for patients with incurable cancer].

The German Association of Palliative Care developed an evidence-based guideline about the management of malignant wounds in adult patients with incurable cancer. There is a lack of evidence-based guidelines about fungating wounds and a confusing wide range of available wound dressings. The goal of the guideline is to reduce the suffering of patients with malignant wounds and stabilize or improve their quality of life.

Communication about the desire to die: Development and evaluation of a first needs-oriented training concept - A pilot study.

Objective: Patients' desire to die (DD) is rarely discussed in palliative care (PC) due to health professionals' (HPs) feeling of uncertainty. The aim of the study was to develop and evaluate a training to increase HPs' self-confidence in responding professionally to patient's DD and to assess the feasibility of this approach.

Methods: The training course was developed via focus groups and relevant literature and refined with an advisory board.

[Needs of parents in bereavement care after perinatal loss of their preterm infant in the NICU].

Background: In Germany, 9% of babies are born preterm, 32 % of them die. A neonatal death is a challenge for both parents and neonatal health care professionals alike. In 1994 the Department of pediatric nursing of the Klinik für Neonatologie/Charité launched an initiative to offer bereavement care for parents who have experienced a perinatal death.