Non-response in a survey of physicians on end-of-life care for the elderly.

Background: Physicians are quite often surveyed with the aim to investigate their opinions regarding provision and improvement of health care. However, in many cases response rates tend to be rather low. The aim of the study is to reflect methodological aspects regarding survey conduction and to analyse factors that cause physicians to take part in a study on delivering end-of-life care for the elderly.

"Good idea but not feasible" - the views of decision makers and stakeholders towards strategies for better palliative care in Germany: a representative survey.

Background: Statements on potential measures to improve palliative care in Germany predominantly reflect the points of view of experts from specialized palliative care organizations. By contrast, relatively little is known about the views of representatives of organizations and institutions that do not explicitly specialize in palliative care, but are involved to a relevant extent in the decision-making and policy-making processes. Therefore, for the first time in Germany, we carried out a representative study of the attitudes of a broad range of different stakeholders acting at the national or state level of the health care system.

Problems and challenges for palliative care: what are the views of different stakeholders on the meso and macro level of the health system?

Objectives: To study the views of a wide range of representatives from organizations and institutions at the meso and macro level of the health system regarding palliative care in Germany.

Methods: 442 organizations and institutions were included (e.g.

How does mental health care perform in respect to service users' expectations? Evaluating inpatient and outpatient care in Germany with the WHO responsiveness concept.

Background: Health systems increasingly try to make their services more responsive to users' expectations. In the context of the World Health Report 2000, WHO developed the concept of health system responsiveness as a performance parameter. Responsiveness relates to the system's ability to respond to service users' legitimate expectations of non-medical aspects.

The 12-min walk test as an assessment criterion for lung transplantation in subjects with cystic fibrosis.

Timing for the evaluation and listing of patients with cystic fibrosis who are candidates for lung transplantation is still uncertain. Our study goal was to determine the value of the 12-min walk test as a simple and easy-to-use adjunctive assessment tool for pre-transplant evaluation. A total of 34 cystic fibrosis patients (17 male, mean age 22 years) with end-stage lung disease were evaluated in this retrospective analysis.

Beneficial hemodynamic and renal effects of intravenous enalaprilat following coronary artery bypass surgery complicated by left ventricular dysfunction.

Objective: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors are an effective therapy for all stages of heart failure due to reduced systolic left ventricular function. Because sufficient data on intravenous angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors following coronary artery bypass surgery complicated by postoperative left ventricular dysfunction are unavailable, the efficacy and safety of intravenously administered enalaprilat were evaluated.

Design: A placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind protocol.