DEALING WITH THE TOPIC CARE FOR THE DYING DURING MEDICAL-TRAINING - RESULTS OF SURVEY OF 565 STUDENTS AND PHYSICIANS

Care for the dying is an important task for physicians. The ways in wh ich this problem is dealt with during the medical training and the exp ectations of the people concerned win examined in 1989 and in 1994 by means of a questionnaire developed for this purpose. Altogether 565 ju nior doctors and medical students in Germany were asked. The number of people who declared that this topic was dealt with juring their studi es increased from 32,7 to to 51%. The number of junior doctors and med ical students who stated that they felt sufficiently prepared for care for the dying was low both in 1989 with 4,3% and in 1994 with 12,7%. Dealing with this problem seemed necessary to more than 97% of the peo ple asked on both occasions. Results regarding the expectations and id eas of how and when this topic should be dealt with are also shown. Ou r results show that while there is a deficit in dealing with the topic ''care for thr dying'' during medical training, there is a considerab le interest in this subject among junior doctors and medical students.