History
The Medical University of Vienna is one of the longest-established medical education and research facilities in Europe. With almost 8.000 students, it is currently the largest medical training centre in the German-speaking countries. Patient care is provided within the context of the Vienna General Hospital (German: Allgemeines Krankenhaus der Stadt Wien), usually abbreviated to AKH, which has approximately 1700 beds, is a tertiary referral centre in most of its aspects and hosts all clinical departments of the Medical University of Vienna.
The Vienna General Hospital is the general hospital of the city of Vienna, Austria. It is also the city's university hospital, and the site of the Medical University of Vienna. It is Europe's fifth largest hospital, both by number of employees and bed capacity. The Department of Internal Medicine at the AKH is one of three Internal Medical Departments at the Medical University of Vienna. It is the largest centre of medical oncology in Austria and part of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Vienna (CCC, www.ccc.at) and comprises four Divisions: 1. Hematology and Hemostaseology, 2. Infectious Diseases, 3. Oncology, 4. Palliative Medicine as well as units for Intensive Care and Bone Marrow Transplantation. Palliative Care at the centre started in 2001, when six beds from the Department of Oncology were dedicated for patients in need for palliative care. In 2005, a chair for Palliative Medicine was established at the Medical University of Vienna. Subsequently, an independent Department of Palliative Medicine was established in 2013. The Department of Palliative Medicine is member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Vienna.
Profile
The Division of Palliative Medicine includes a palliative care unit, an in-hospital palliative care consultation service and an outpatient clinic. The palliative care unit has 12 beds, a large visiting area and a conference room. The Division of Palliative Medicine is headed by a full professor of palliative medicine who has a specialization and long-standing experience in palliative care. Around 250 patients a year are admitted to the palliative care unit. Half of the patients can be discharged, either to home palliative care or institutional care. The palliative care consultation service serves patients in other departments of the hospital who have palliative needs. The outpatient clinic supports patients who have been discharged from the palliative care unit and need a continuum of care as well as outpatients with palliative needs who need support from physicians, nurses, dietologists, physiotherapists, social workers or spiritual care.
It also serves to support newly diagnosed patients with serious illnesses in coping with their disease in providing early palliative care. Palliative home care is managed in cooperation with ambulatory palliative care teams. In addition, specifically trained volunteers are available to support patients in the hospital and at home. Members of the Division of Palliative Medicine are responsible for patient care, teaching and research at the Medical University of Vienna.
The palliative care team consists of:
- 7 medical doctors, all of them working full time.
- 23 nurses that are also involved in the palliative care consultation team.
- A psychologist/psychotherapist, 20 hours.
- An End-of-life Doula, 16 hours.
- A social worker who is available on demand during office hours.
- A dietician who is involved in monitoring patients’ needs concerning nutritional supplements, enteral and parenteral nutrition, 20 hours.
- Volunteer team
- Physiotherapists and occupational therapists
- Music therapy once a week.
Specialities
The Division of Palliative Medicine provides care to patients - mainly patients living with cancer - facing serious illnesses as well as to their families and friends. The clinical activities are primarily related to evidence-based management and improvement of distressing symptoms such as pain, dyspnea, cachexia and sarcopenia, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting. Furthermore, the palliative care team focuses on psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, delirium, depression and psychosocial aspects. The research activities of the Research Group Palliative Care of the Division of Palliative Medicine focus on the goal that evidence-based knowledge in palliative care is further established and implemented in standard care. Another particular goal is to frequently train medical students in palliative care throughout their studies and to highlight the importance of palliative care skills as well as of providing early palliative care. By using Medical Humanities in education, which includes humanities, social sciences and the arts, another focus of the working group is to address challenging situations within medical settings.
Palliative and Supportive Care
Being a member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Medical University of Vienna, the expertise of the palliative care team lies in in helping patients with serious illnesses to improve their quality of life early in the course of their disease as well as to support them and their families and friends. This requires a multi-professional team which covers every aspect of palliative care. Palliative care encompasses a range of services that help individuals to cope with their situation.
Palliative Care and Supportive Care aim to improve the patient's overall well-being and are essential components of comprehensive care including medical care, emotional and psychological support, education about the illness and treatment options, and assistance with psychosocial issues. The goal of Palliative Care and Supportive Care is to provide a holistic approach to care that addresses the needs of the whole person.
Last update: December 2023
