Multi-professional breathlessness intervention service for cancer patients
Project management: Prof. Dr. Steffen Simon (Department of Palliative Medicine, University Hospital Cologne), Prof. Jürgen Wolf (Clinic I for Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne) and Prof. Winfried Randerath (Bethanien Hospital, Solingen)
Contact persons: Dr. Lisa Pusch, Theresa Karge, Alinda Reimer
Duration: 10/2024 – 11/2027
Funding institution: German Cancer Aid
Contact: atemnotsprechstunde@uk-koeln.de
Project description
Aim: Establishment of a multi-professional breathlessness intervention service for cancer patients to improve the clinical care of cancer patients with dyspnea.
Shortness of breath can be a common and very distressing symptom in patients with advanced cancer. Despite optimal tumor-specific treatment, breathlessness can occur in the form of continuous breathlessness or attacks of breathlessness. The stress caused by breathlessness is complex and often accompanied by fear and panic (especially fear of suffocation). To improve quality of life, patients with breathlessness can therefore benefit greatly from multimodal symptomatic treatment in addition to optimized cancer treatment.
In the multi-professional breathlessness intervention service, doctors, psychologists and physiotherapists will offer individualized therapy according to the patient's needs and resources. Training and application of special breathing techniques and body positions that make breathing easier are discussed individually, as are methods for controlling anxiety and panic. This is supplemented by taking the medical history and providing advice and information on breathlessness and possibilities of pharmacological symptom control.
Patients are given training and information material specially designed for the intervention service. This is intended to enable in-depth self-study at home and the application of the exercises learned during the consultation.
The consultation is evaluated on the basis of the experience of patients, relatives and the multi-professional treatment team with the aim of optimizing the range of therapies for patients with dyspnea due to cancer and integrating them into the hospital's internal care structures.
