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Palliative Care
Palliative care, or palliative medicine, supports you and your caregivers from diagnosis through to the end of life by focusing on alleviating symptoms, improving your quality of life, and providing emotional support.
Palliative medicine or palliative care (these terms are used synonymously) cares for people with incurable, progressive diseases, i.e., diseases that limit life expectancy and/or may be accompanied by serious symptoms or problems. These can be incurable cancers, but also, for example, diseases of internal organs, infections, neurological or age-related diseases, and severe trauma.
In addition, palliative medicine is available to affected patients and their caregivers (at the latest) from the point at which the disease is determined to be incurable. It accompanies patients and their relatives from the time of diagnosis throughout the entire course of the disease, concurrently with treatment of the underlying disease—in the case of cancer, for example, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation therapy, and surgery—and after completion of treatment of the underlying disease, up to and including the terminal phase.
Patients with potentially curable diseases and their relatives can also receive palliative care counseling. For example, they can receive advice on what to expect if the disease cannot be cured and progresses. The co-care of caregivers is based on the understanding that a serious illness affects not only the patients, but also their caregivers, i.e., all important persons in the patient's life. Palliative care also includes the grieving process of caregivers.
The central goal of palliative care is to improve the quality of life of people with an incurable, progressive illness and their relatives, and to enable them to live as fully as possible with or despite their illness until the end.
On the one hand, physical symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, and nausea are treated. At the same time, psychological problems, social or practical everyday issues, and spiritual or existential topics are also addressed. Psychological problems can include anxiety, sadness, anger, or feelings of depression. Social or practical issues can include legal or financial aspects, care options, the organization of daily life and surroundings, and questions about dispositions and powers of attorney. Spiritual or existential issues often involve questions of finding meaning, dealing with hope or hopelessness, grief, or preparing for farewells and death.
In order to address all these aspects that can influence the quality of life of someone with a serious illness in a meaningful and comprehensive way, palliative care always involves a specialized team of experts from various professional groups and disciplines working together in the interests of patients and their relatives.
The multi-professional palliative care team consists of specialized physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, pastoral caregivers, and various therapists. They are supported by volunteers.
General palliative care refers, on the one hand, to the fundamental understanding that all physicians, nursing professionals, and members of all other professional groups who care for patients with incurable diseases should do so in accordance with the basic principles and core competencies of palliative medicine. On the other hand, it also means that doctors or nurses from other specialist areas, such as oncology or general practitioners, have a basic qualification in palliative medicine through appropriate additional training and apply these skills in their care of patients with incurable diseases.
In specialized palliative care, various professionals such as physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, pastoral caregivers, and therapists work together to provide the best possible support to people with serious illnesses and their families.
These specialized teams work in palliative care units, in specialized palliative care services in hospitals, or in the home environment, for example in “specialized outpatient palliative care” (SAPV). Specialized palliative care is always necessary when general palliative care cannot meet all the needs of patients and their caregivers.
Palliative care at the UKE & UCC Hamburg
The palliative care teams at the UKE and UCC Hamburg work closely with all other specialist and functional areas at the UKE, particularly with all oncology departments, the pain management service at the Clinic for Anesthesiology, and the Institute and Polyclinic for Medical Psychology.
In addition, there are also services available to support the relatives of our deceased patients during the grieving process.
Palliative medicine is closely linked to the wide range of other forms of palliative and hospice care available throughout Hamburg and beyond: there is close cooperation with the various SAPV teams and several hospices. There is also a network of outpatient hospice services and other palliative care units.
Palliative care encompasses three forms of care:
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Palliative medicine at the UKE and UCC Hamburg is also represented academically as a university department in the university professorship (W3) for palliative medicine (Prof. Dr. Karin Oechsle) and, in addition to caring for patients and their relatives, also includes palliative medicine teaching, continuing education, and training, as well as palliative medicine research. Palliative medicine is a compulsory subject for all medical students at the UKE. Continuing education for physicians from across the UKE is also a high priority. In addition, there are numerous training, continuing education, and further education opportunities for all participating professional groups.
Research programs
The research focus of palliative medicine at the UKE and the UCC Hamburg is in the area of family member research. The aim is to better understand the needs, problems, and expectations of family members in different phases of illness and forms of care and to better address these with newly developed specific support services. Other research topics include issues of communication, multi-professional palliative care involving various therapies, better coordination of oncological and palliative care at the appropriate stage of the disease, and improving the care of dying people and their relatives. The involvement of those affected, patients, and caregivers in our research is a high priority.
Support for palliative care at the UKE and UCC Hamburg
Since not all aspects of palliative care are fully covered by the healthcare system, palliative care at the UKE and UCC Hamburg (like all hospice and palliative care providers) is dependent on donations.
We therefore welcome donations to the palliative care donation account at the UCC Hamburg (Prof. Dr. Carsten Bokemeyer):
UKE gemeinnützige GmbH
Bank: Hamburger Sparkasse
IBAN: DE 54 200 50 550 1234 363636
BIC: HASPDEHHXXX
Reference: 0765/002
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Friends of Palliative Care at the UKE e.V.
Palliative medicine at the UKE and the UCC Hamburg is also supported by the Friends of Palliative Care at the UKE e.V.
For more information, please visit:
Further information
Further information on palliative and hospice care in Hamburg can be found here:
Further information on palliative and hospice care in Germany can be found here:
The image was provided courtesy of Sigrid Mathiszig.
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