Strategien, Richtlinien und Empfehlungen zur Bewältigung der COVID-19-Pandemie in Einrichtungen der Palliativ- und Hospizversorgung. Ergebnisse eines Scoping-Reviews

BACKGROUND: Palliative and hospice care facilities face different challenges emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this results from the high age and pre-existing diseases of patients as well as the physically close contact between staff and patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify existing strategies, guidelines and recommendations in Germany and other countries with respect to addressing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in palliative and hospice care. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The databases PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science and PsycInfo were searched as part of a scoping review. Additionally, Google Search and Google Scholar were used to identify “grey literature”. All German and English language articles related to inpatient palliative and hospice care were included which were published between January 2020 and August 2021. RESULTS: A total of 51 publications were included in the analysis. The identified measures can be clustered into 10 different categories: infection control measures, structural measures, visiting regulations, communication structures, education and training, psychosocial support measures, specific considerations for people with dementia, advance care planning, farewell and measures after death. CONCLUSION: With respect to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, the primary focus is on measures to enable communication between patients, staff and relatives, psychosocial support measures, structural measures and recommendations for training and education of all stakeholders. Measures for the palliative care of people with dementia in times of a pandemic as well as the farewell and grief management of bereaved families received less attention.