Der Schmerz
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Chronic pain patients represent the population with the highest use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Current data on the usage, prescription and reasons for using CAM in Germany remain unclear and have not yet been published. ⋯ The high use of CAM in chronic pain patients highlights the need for physicians to have adequate medical knowledge about each CAM modality and to communicate competently with the patients about them.
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Palliative care is aimed at patients with incurable oncological and non-oncological diseases and their relatives with the aim of maintaining or improving their quality of life. In order to integrate palliative care into acute care medicine, palliative care training and continuing education for medical and nursing staff is recommended. ⋯ For palliative care, established specialist palliative care services can be called upon for advice and/or cotreatment. Symptom control, treatment of malignant wounds, difficult ethical decision-making, and communication difficulties with patients, their legal representatives or relatives are the tasks of palliative care experts.