{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,27]],"date-time":"2026-04-27T05:21:34Z","timestamp":1777267294692,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"11-12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,4]],"date-time":"2025-03-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741046400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,4]],"date-time":"2025-03-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741046400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Landesgesundheitsagentur Nieder\u00f6sterreich"},{"name":"F\u00f6rderverein Palliative Care Krems"},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100022308","name":"Karl Landsteiner Privatuniversit\u00e4t f\u00fcr Gesundheitswissenschaften","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100022308","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Wien Klin Wochenschr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Summary<\/jats:title>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Since January 2022, assisted suicide (AS) has been legal in Austria under specific conditions, allowing medical AS for individuals with incurable, life-ending diseases or severe, enduring illnesses that significantly impact their lives. Palliative sedation therapy (PST) involves the controlled use of drugs to induce unconsciousness and alleviate otherwise untreatable suffering. This study evaluates Austrian physicians\u2019 knowledge of AS and PST, comparing the knowledge levels of palliative care (PC) and non-PC physicians.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>In this explorative study, an online survey was distributed primarily to physicians in Lower Austria through the State Healthcare Agency Lower Austria (Landesgesundheitsagentur Nieder\u00f6sterreich, LGA) and to PC physicians across Austria via the Austrian Association for Palliative Care (\u00d6sterreichische Palliativgesellschaft, OPG). Questions in this survey focused on basic knowledge of the principles of AS and PST. Participants included physicians who have expertise in PC and physicians from other medical specialties.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>In this study, 223 physicians completed the survey. The PC physicians displayed significantly more specialized training, with 74.2% holding a\u00a0PC diploma compared to 17.9% of non-PC physicians (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&lt;\u20090.001). Regarding PST, PC physicians were more likely to follow guidelines, using midazolam (97.8% vs. 77.6%, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f&lt;\u20090.001), propofol (56.2% vs. 38.1%, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u20090.009), and levomepromazine (23.6% vs. 11.2%, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u20090.016). In AS, PC physicians emphasized the decision-making capacity more frequently (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u202f=\u20090.006) and were better informed about the legal requirements.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>\n          <jats:sec>\n            <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n            <jats:p>Overall, Austrian physicians demonstrate insufficient knowledge of AS and PST, underlining the need for enhanced education on PC principles to ensure informed practice post-AS legalization. Nonetheless, PC physicians in Austria demonstrate superior adherence to guidelines in managing life-limiting conditions, PST and AS compared to non-PC physicians, highlighting the importance of specialized PC education.<\/jats:p>\n          <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00508-025-02509-7","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,4]],"date-time":"2025-03-04T10:48:33Z","timestamp":1741085313000},"page":"357-367","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Evaluating physicians\u2019 knowledge of assisted suicide and palliative sedation therapy in Austria"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"137","author":[{"given":"Lukas","family":"Fischer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nguyen-Son","family":"Le","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Stefanie","family":"Kirchner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Angelika","family":"Feichtner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Angelina","family":"Falkner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eva Katharina","family":"Masel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jan","family":"G\u00e4rtner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dietmar","family":"Weixler","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0674-7079","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gudrun","family":"Kreye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,4]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"2509_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"754","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpainsymman.2020.04.027","volume":"60","author":"L Radbruch","year":"2020","unstructured":"Radbruch\u00a0L, De Lima\u00a0L, Knaul\u00a0F, Wenk\u00a0R, Ali\u00a0Z, Bhatnaghar\u00a0S, et\u00a0al. Redefining palliative care\u2014a new consensus-based definition. J\u00a0Pain Symptom Manage. 2020;60(4):754\u201364.","journal-title":"J Pain Symptom Manage"},{"issue":"4","key":"2509_CR2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1047","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers14041047","volume":"14","author":"D Hui","year":"2022","unstructured":"Hui\u00a0D, Heung\u00a0Y, Bruera\u00a0E. Timely palliative care: personalizing the process of referral. Cancers. 2022;14(4):1047.","journal-title":"Cancers"},{"key":"2509_CR3","unstructured":"LKF-Modell 2023 f\u00fcr den station\u00e4ren Bereich. 2023."},{"key":"2509_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Masel EK. Perspective: legal, ethical, and medical perspectives of the landscape of assisted suicide in Austria. 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