[Palliative care and change in treatment goals for heart failure in the outpatient sector : A survey among office-based physicians in Germany on the current state of healthcare provision].

Background: Palliative care is a crucial part of the holistic management of advanced heart failure; however, it remains unclear how palliative care is currently provided in the outpatient sector in Germany.

Methods: We conducted a survey among office-based cardiologists and general practitioners (GPs) in Germany on the current provision of palliative care for people with advanced heart failure. The survey was developed by a multiprofessional project group of the German Cardiac Society (DGK e. V.) and administered online by the National Association of Office-Based Cardiologists (BNK e.V.).

Results: A total of 235 individuals participated in the study. The majority of respondents reported frequently or always discussing goals of care with patients with advanced heart failure. The GPs reported significantly more often than cardiologists that they always or frequently address primary palliative care needs. None of the surveyed office-based cardiologists but 35.1% of GPs stated that they frequently or always prescribe specialized outpatient palliative care (SAPV) for patients with advanced heart failure. Over 90% of the cardiologists reported that they rarely or never continue to care for patients when they cannot come to the practice themselves.

Conclusion: Only few office-based physicians in Germany regularly refer patients with advanced heart failure to specialized palliative care services. Primary palliative care and the involvement of SAPV are significantly more often managed by GPs than by office-based cardiologists.