Zwischen Abschied und Autonomie - Psychokardiologie und Palliativmedizin im Dialog

Traditionally, there is a high expertise for psychooncological care in palliative medicine. Psychooncology and psychocardiology are interdisciplinary fields in the care of somatically ill patients. While personalised support of oncological patients in palliative and psychooncological terms represents progress in the medical care structure, there is a lack of care for patients with chronic heart disease without curative treatment options. Patients with advanced heart failure e.g. show oscillations in disease severity compared to those with cancer, which lends a certain unpredictability to treatment planning. As cardiologists often find it difficult to leave the curative approach, communication about palliative treatment options and psychocardiological support often does not take place. Apart from consultation and liaison services, the topics of farewell and dying play a subordinate role in psychocardiological treatment contexts. Also, heart disease patients rarely receive psychocardiological care under a palliative treatment concept. If palliative care is provided for cardiac patients, there is often a lack of psychocardiological expertise for the special care necessities for these patients. Therefore, we entered into a dialogue between psychocardiology and palliative medicine in order to explore the conceptual overlaps and fundamental differences between the two disciplines, how they can learn from each other and how concepts can be used meaningfully in the other field. In the following, we will discuss which specialist concepts and ideas can help to better treat patients with advanced heart disease.