A medical referral is required for inpatient admission to the Palliative Care Unit. The medical team at the Clinical Department of Palliative Medicine will decide whether inpatient admission is indicated, taking into account the existing symptom burden.
We would like to point out that a stay in the palliative care unit is of limited duration and should not exceed 3 weeks.
For internal AKH patients, please request a palliative care consultation, see registration for a consultation visit.
For external patients, please contact the Palliative Care Unit by telephone on T: +43 (0)1 40400-77790.
The aim of palliative care is to improve the symptoms associated with advanced illness.
The most common symptoms are:
- Shortness of breath
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Cachexia/sarcopenia
- Lack of appetite
- Nausea and vomiting
Palliative care is primarily concerned with providing comprehensive relief of distressing symptoms on a physical, psychological, social and spiritual level, in accordance with the needs of the patient and their family, for a period of about three weeks, after which discharge home or to an appropriate facility is arranged.
- Discharge management: To be arranged by the social workers.
- An immediate need for nursing care without symptom burden.
- The immediate dying process: The transfer of patients in the immediate dying process represents an unbearable stress situation for the patients and their environment, is unethical and is therefore not inidcated. In this situation, palliative care counselling service is possible.
- A Palliative Care Unit is no long-term care facility. Hospices or nursing homes are intended for this purpose.
No intravenous antineoplastic therapies are administered during the stay in the Clinical Division of Palliative Medicine. The aim of the stay is to alleviate symptoms, to communicate about the disease, to involve the patient's family and friends, to plan advance care and to organise further optimal care.
If, in the interests of timely palliative care, further intravenous antineoplastic therapy (outpatient or inpatient) is planned, the continuation of such therapy following a stay on the Palliative Care Unit must be evaluated by the team treating the underlying disease.
Parallel daily intravenous antineoplastic therapy is not possible during the stay on the Palliative Care Unit, as this does not correspond to the care mandate of tertiary palliative care on a Palliative Care Unit and conflicts of goals and values arise. During the maximum three-week stay on the Palliative Care Unit, the palliative care team does not focus on treating the underlying disease, but rather on providing comprehensive symptom relief.
The possible continuation of intravenous antineoplaston therapy after discharge from the Palliative Care Unit can be assessed and coordinated by the treating oncology/haematology team. If continuation of intravenous antineoplaston therapy after discharge from the Palliative Care Unit leads to treatment-related complications, management of treatment-related toxicity is not the responsibility of the Palliative Care Unit. Of course, the Clinical Department of Palliative Medicine will continue to see patients on a consultative and/or outpatient basis if palliative care is required and will be available for joint discussion of treatment goals.
An important requirement for inpatient care in the Clinical Division of Palliative Medicine is that patients agree to be admitted, are informed about the purpose of palliative care and are willing to accept the treatment concept of comprehensive palliation by an interprofessional team.