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The First Neuropalliative Care Unit in Germany—Characteristics of Patients

A unique structure of care for neurological inpatients with significant palliative care (PC) needs was established in the Department of Neurology at the Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin in 2021: a specialized neuropalliative care (NPC) unit. After one year, we provide an overview of the concept an...

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Autores principales: Willert, Anna-Christin, Meyerling, Johanna, Ploner, Christoph J., Kowski, Alexander B.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9688298/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36358424
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111498
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author Willert, Anna-Christin
Meyerling, Johanna
Ploner, Christoph J.
Kowski, Alexander B.
author_facet Willert, Anna-Christin
Meyerling, Johanna
Ploner, Christoph J.
Kowski, Alexander B.
author_sort Willert, Anna-Christin
collection PubMed
description A unique structure of care for neurological inpatients with significant palliative care (PC) needs was established in the Department of Neurology at the Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin in 2021: a specialized neuropalliative care (NPC) unit. After one year, we provide an overview of the concept and the patients’ characteristics. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the characteristics of patients treated in our NPC unit between February 2021–February 2022. Data were extracted from medical records and PC assessment including diagnosis, mode of admission and discharge, length of stay, and palliative symptoms. Data are presented as averages with a 95% confidence interval [lower limit; upper limit] or percentage (absolute number). Results: We included 143 patients (52% (75) female, 67.9 years [65.6; 70.2]). Patients were admitted from general wards (48%; 68), their homes (22%; 32), intensive care units (16%; 23) or emergency departments (14%; 20). The main diagnoses were tumors of the nervous system (39%; 56), neurodegenerative diseases (30%; 43), neurologic complications (13%; 19) and cerebrovascular diseases (12%; 17). Complaints most frequently rated as severely to overwhelmingly burdensome were motor- or fatigue-associated problems, problems communicating, dysphagia and pain. The average length of stay was 13.7 days [12.2; 15.2]. Forty-five percent (64) of patients were discharged without further PC, 17% (24) were referred to a hospice and 13% (18) were discharged with outpatient PC. Five percent (7) were referred to neurorehabilitation and 21% (30) of patients died. Conclusions: Our NPC unit is a new model of care for neurological patients with substantial PC needs especially within the structures of a highly specialized and individualized medicine.
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spelling pubmed-96882982022-11-25 The First Neuropalliative Care Unit in Germany—Characteristics of Patients Willert, Anna-Christin Meyerling, Johanna Ploner, Christoph J. Kowski, Alexander B. Brain Sci Communication A unique structure of care for neurological inpatients with significant palliative care (PC) needs was established in the Department of Neurology at the Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin in 2021: a specialized neuropalliative care (NPC) unit. After one year, we provide an overview of the concept and the patients’ characteristics. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the characteristics of patients treated in our NPC unit between February 2021–February 2022. Data were extracted from medical records and PC assessment including diagnosis, mode of admission and discharge, length of stay, and palliative symptoms. Data are presented as averages with a 95% confidence interval [lower limit; upper limit] or percentage (absolute number). Results: We included 143 patients (52% (75) female, 67.9 years [65.6; 70.2]). Patients were admitted from general wards (48%; 68), their homes (22%; 32), intensive care units (16%; 23) or emergency departments (14%; 20). The main diagnoses were tumors of the nervous system (39%; 56), neurodegenerative diseases (30%; 43), neurologic complications (13%; 19) and cerebrovascular diseases (12%; 17). Complaints most frequently rated as severely to overwhelmingly burdensome were motor- or fatigue-associated problems, problems communicating, dysphagia and pain. The average length of stay was 13.7 days [12.2; 15.2]. Forty-five percent (64) of patients were discharged without further PC, 17% (24) were referred to a hospice and 13% (18) were discharged with outpatient PC. Five percent (7) were referred to neurorehabilitation and 21% (30) of patients died. Conclusions: Our NPC unit is a new model of care for neurological patients with substantial PC needs especially within the structures of a highly specialized and individualized medicine. MDPI 2022-11-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9688298/ /pubmed/36358424 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111498 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Communication
Willert, Anna-Christin
Meyerling, Johanna
Ploner, Christoph J.
Kowski, Alexander B.
The First Neuropalliative Care Unit in Germany—Characteristics of Patients
title The First Neuropalliative Care Unit in Germany—Characteristics of Patients
title_full The First Neuropalliative Care Unit in Germany—Characteristics of Patients
title_fullStr The First Neuropalliative Care Unit in Germany—Characteristics of Patients
title_full_unstemmed The First Neuropalliative Care Unit in Germany—Characteristics of Patients
title_short The First Neuropalliative Care Unit in Germany—Characteristics of Patients
title_sort first neuropalliative care unit in germany—characteristics of patients
topic Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9688298/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36358424
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12111498
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