Table 3 |
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functioning and organisation of SCEN and LEIF |
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Functioning & Organisation |
LEIF |
SCEN |
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Selection criteria |
* 5 years experience in practice * * experience with euthanasia* * skilful in consultations* * not being fundamentally against euthanasia* |
* 5 years experience in practice † * experience with euthanasia or physician-assisted death (PAD) † * skilful in consultations† * not being fundamentally against euthanasia† * write a motivation letter† |
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Training |
24 hours spread over 5 modules in 28 weeks |
22.5 hours spread over 3 days in 5 weeks |
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Content of modules ‡: * general introduction * end-of-life care (laws of patient rights, palliative care and euthanasia; palliative practice) * context of the LEIF physician and the other caregivers * euthanasia in practice * communication of the LEIF physician |
Content of modules § * tasks, duties and role of the consultant * communication and emotions around euthanasia * alternative possibilities and the final advice (the consultation report, suffering, palliative care) |
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Intervisions ‡ * Group meetings per province * twice a year * to discuss cases |
Intervisions † * Group meetings per district * 3 to 4 times a year * to air problems and to monitor the quality of consultation |
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Organisation |
Comes under the non-profit organisation End-of-life care Academy and has 1 central secretariat for Flanders and Brussels * |
Comes under a department of the Royal Dutch Medical Association and is subdivided in 23 districts throughout the Netherlands. There is a consultant network per district † |
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Contact |
One central telephone number at LEIF secretariat, permanently available. LEIF physicians can also be contacted directly ‡ |
One central telephone number per district, during office hours † |
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Consultations |
Work with guidelines received during training and use the registration form of the Federal Control and Evaluation Committee as a checklist for the criteria of due care * |
Follow a written consultation protocol and have a checklist for writing the report (bron) |
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Expenses |
No standard compensation is provided. LEIF physicians sometimes charge the price of a normal consultation * |
A standard compensation of 280€ is provided via the health insurance of the patient to the SCEN physician after the SCEN physician files a report || |
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Control |
A guidance group, consisting of medical doctors, academics, ethics, experts in palliative care, nurses and actors, acts as a sounding board for LEIF ‡ |
An advice council, consisting of medical doctors, academics, a medical advisor and the project leader of SCEN, guards the objectives of the SCEN program † |
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Support |
No more direct financial support after 2007¶ |
Annually 1.000.000€ support from the Dutch government || |
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* Source: interview with the director and training moderator of LEIF † Source: http://knmg.artsennet.nl webcite ‡ Source: http://www.leif.be webcite §Source: overview of the KNMG training for SCEN physicians, KNMG, November 2008 || Source: Information obtained by email from the district coordinator of SCEN ¶Source: Information obtained by email from the LEIF secretariat |
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Van Wesemael et al. BMC Health Services Research 2009 9:220 doi:10.1186/1472-6963-9-220 |
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