RESUMEN
Cancer-related fatigue - Process evaluation of a seminar of the University Medicine Greifswald Abstract. Background: Fatigue is the most common and stressful symptom in cancer patients and their relatives. The patient information center (PIZ) of the University Medicine Greifswald enables patients to learn how to deal with fatigue and to understand their disease. The fatigue seminar is well accepted by seminar participants, but it is rarely taken up by patients. Aim: The primary objective of this observational study was to find out how well-known this seminar is, whether it is recommended to patients and what the reasons for missing referrals are. METHODS: Medical and nursing staff of all 13 wards of the Oncology Centre was surveyed by means of a self-developed questionnaire. The questions were analyzed on a single item level. Descriptive statistics and measures of correlation were determined. RESULTS: The fatigue seminar of the PIZ is hardly known to the n = 115 respondents and / or is not always recommended to those affected. Where the PIZ has been present in the past, the knowledge about fatigue is higher and the seminar is better known. Screening instruments are hardly used for diagnostics. CONCLUSIONS: The fatigue seminar needs to be promoted in a better way. In order to increase its popularity, it should be presented both to the psychological staff and on the wards. The systematic inclusion of screening instruments in the treatment path of cancer patients and the inclusion of the fatigue seminar in the range of treatment for patients with distressing fatigue symptoms should be discussed.