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Research question / project object:

What characteristics characterise patients in qualified withdrawal (QW) in internal medicine? How effective is this treatment setting (QE) in terms of disease acceptance, therapy success evaluation and the initiation of further measures?

Project data

Project name:Qualified withdrawal in internal medicine (multicentre study in cooperation with Diakoniekrankenhaus Elbingerode)
Running time:01/2017 - 12/2018
Project organiser:
Project management:
  • Prof Dr Uwe Saint-Mont
  • Prof Dr Markus Steffens
Employee:
Project partners:
Funding amount:
Third-party donors:

AKQEIM (Working Group for Qualified Withdrawal in Internal Medicine)

Summary of the project

As part of the cooperation with the Diakonie-Krankenhaus Elbingerode, we are in contact with the "Arbeitskreis qualifizierter Entzug in der Inneren Medizin" (AKQEIM). In co-operation with this working group, a prospective study (questionnaire on qualified withdrawal) is to be conducted at 10-15 German clinics.

The envisaged study is prospective and quantitative. This means that several (up to 15, at least five) German internal medicine clinics will complete a standardised questionnaire for each of their patients in qualified withdrawal within an a priori defined period. All patients with a discharge date within the previously agreed period (approx. six months in 2017) are included in the study. This will provide an overview of the patient population for the first time: How many people are treated in Qualified Withdrawal in Internal Medicine and what are their characteristics. In addition, the focus will be on the therapeutic measures and their success (in particular disease acceptance, therapy success evaluation, initiation of further measures).

The investigation is divided into several steps:

  1. Creation and adoption of a standardised questionnaire for all participating clinics (already completed, see attachment "Questionnaire")
  2. Creation of a corresponding Excel file for convenient input and standardised collection (already completed, can be sent on request).
  3. Determination of the study period as soon as a copy of the approval of the ethics committee of the University of Jena (obtained by the ISRV1) has been submitted to the AKQEIM secretariat2 and at least 5 clinics have committed to participate in the study - i.e. have signed the present document and submitted it to the AKQEIM secretariat.
  4. Decentralised data collection in three tranches (one, three and six months).
  5. After completing the survey, each clinic sends its anonymised data to the evaluators in Nordhausen in encrypted form by e-mail using the standardised Excel file (see 2.).
  6. Merging, analysing and interpreting the data by Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Saint-Mont and Prof. Dr. med. Steffens (both ISRV).
  7. Prompt oral presentation of the results by the persons named in point 6 at a meeting of the AKQEIM.
  8. Written final report by the ISRV.
  9. Legal aspects

The above study aims to provide basic information on success criteria in qualified withdrawal in internal medicine. In follow-up projects, more comprehensive and standardised information - including comparative data - could be collected nationwide. Appropriate questionnaires, which have already proven themselves in clinical use, are available. This could provide a detailed picture of the status of different withdrawal treatments in Germany. In particular, different treatment approaches could also be compared in a targeted manner.

In addition, the ISRV was commissioned to analyse the statistical data available in Elbingerode on patients undergoing alcohol withdrawal. A bachelor's thesis on "Qualified withdrawal in Elbingerode" from 1 September 2016 to mid-2017 (completed) dealt with the evaluation of this data.

Contact

Institute:

House 34 - IRSV - a modern low-rise building on our green campus. There are trees in the background.

ISRV - Institute for Social Medicine, Rehabilitation Sciences and Health Services Research