Düsseldorf/Kiel November 14, 2022. The Kiel Pain Clinic received today the Federal Health Minister Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach took first place nationwide in the Patient Dialogue Award at the opening event of the German Hospital Day . The award honors hospitals that strengthen and improve the situation and role of patients and their relatives through information, participation and co-decision in an outstanding nationwide manner. The Kiel Pain Clinic was honored for its exemplary, comprehensive information and education for patients with chronic pain diseases. The focus is on communication and self-help work in the area of ​​migraines and headaches. The patron of the award is MP Stefan Schwartze , Federal Government Commissioner for Patient Affairs. An independent jury made up of prominent members decided on the award. established
by the Federal Association of Patient Advocates in Hospitals and the Federal Association of Complaint Management for Health Facilities It honors health and medical facilities that maintain an exemplary dialogue with patients and their relatives.

Migraines and chronic headaches are the most common causes of chronic pain problems in humans. Headaches are the most widespread public illness. They have serious consequences for those affected in all areas of life. They are of great importance for society and the general welfare due to the social and economic consequences. “Migraines and headaches often last for decades and cost long periods of life. Those affected by their illness have to attend school, complete their studies, get their vocational training and careers on track, be there for their family, raise their children and fulfill their social tasks. Unpredictably severe attacks occur again and again and can last for several days. Appointments, appointments and obligations cannot be kept. In this environment, it is not possible for most of those affected to regularly attend local self-help groups with additional time expenditure,” explained Prof. Dr. Hartmut Göbel, founder and chief physician of the Kiel Pain Clinic, at the award ceremony by the Federal Minister of Health.

Based on these experiences, the Kiel Pain Clinic founded the first digital self-help forum in recent years to provide information and education for migraine and headache patients. These digital self-help groups enable those affected to communicate and exchange ideas with each other at any time. This nationwide patient dialogue, which now has over 25,000 active members, uses self-help work to provide the modern basics for preventing and treating headaches and migraines. The social networks are also visited by around 40,000 sufferers nationwide every day to find out about all aspects of self-help work on the subject of migraines and headaches. The forum and the social community is led and moderated by Bettina Frank, chairwoman of the nationwide self-help organization Migraine and Headache Community eV.

The Kiel Pain Clinic moderates the many individual inquiries, calls for help and discussions on a voluntary basis. This enables immediate, quick and effective supra-regional use of contemporary care that specifically aims to improve pain. Digital patient dialogue counteracts social isolation. Many of those affected are no longer able to leave their homes due to the severe pain and are dependent on contact via digital media, especially in such situations. In recent years, the patient dialogue at the Kiel Pain Clinic has developed into a nationwide contact point for many socially isolated patients. The digital network provides individual information, initiates treatments and contacts regional pain centers in the nationwide headache treatment network, which is also organized by the Kiel Pain Clinic, in order to enable up-to-date care.

Those affected and their relatives are also brought together directly in person. The Kiel Pain Clinic regularly organizes regional and nationwide self-help meetings. The patient dialogue also focuses on networking self-help groups with doctors, therapists and clinics. The Kiel Pain Clinic is committed to ensuring that new knowledge, research results and treatment concepts are discussed in patient dialogue and thus brings the patient's perspective directly into research projects. Not only do they benefit from this, but also scientists and their research work.

A central part of the commitment is also informing the public through lectures, seminars and analogue and digital media. Experts are continually involved as speakers and organizers for patient events in collaboration with self-help groups. A comprehensive guide for those affected was also published, which passes on the extensive knowledge directly to the population. This has now appeared in its 9th edition and has been continuously expanded and updated.

Another central tool in patient dialogue is the migraine app developed by the Kiel Pain Clinic in collaboration with Techniker Krankenkasse. It is provided free of charge. It is now used by more than half a million users in Germany. The integration of the migraine app into the active care process leads to a demonstrable, significant benefit for patients and to an improved dialogue between experts and those affected. In addition, digital networking takes place nationwide through self-help communities via Facebook groups and the Headbook community, which at the same time creates a new digital form of self-help group organization. The patient dialogue at the Kiel Pain Clinic also focuses on migraine and headache prevention at school, at universities and in the workplace. Teaching materials and educational media were developed for this purpose. Patient dialogue is a key means of alleviating pain and social isolation for the many people affected. Suffering is alleviated. Costs are reduced.

The Kiel Pain Clinic

The Kiel Pain Clinic was founded in 1997 as a scientific model project from the Kiel University Hospital by Prof. Dr. Hartmut Göbel founded and contractually supported by AOK Schleswig-Holstein. With the Techniker Krankenkasse, the concept was then adapted for nationwide care and an innovative outpatient-inpatient treatment network with over 400 pain therapists in practice was initiated nationwide. Today, the clinic works as a nationwide center in the context of multimodal pain therapy with coordinated treatment plans and regional pain therapists in practices and clinics. The clinic treats over 1,800 inpatients and 8,000 outpatients from across Germany every year. In order to provide care for all patients, it was included in the hospital plan at the end of 2013.

The treatment concept focuses on neurological pain disorders such as migraines, chronic headaches and other pain disorders associated with diseases of the nervous system. These are among the ten most disabling conditions and, after dementia and stroke, one of the three most expensive neurological diseases. Traditional sectoral care and medical specialist boundaries increase their tendency to become chronic.

The core is multimodal pain therapy, i.e. the consistent interdisciplinary implementation of international scientific knowledge and differentiated service requirements to meet the needs of patients, indication-specific cooperation between specialized practitioners and networking. The aim is to provide lasting pain relief, rebuild quality of life and restore the ability to work. The clinic has received multiple awards for its innovative treatment concept, including the prize for the best implementation of integrated care in Germany.

The entire knowledge that is available nationally and internationally for the care of chronic pain is currently and will be made available directly to patients in the future, taking into account the needs of people with chronic pain in a highly specialized manner. In addition, attention is being paid to research into neurological pain disorders, migraines and other headaches in order to further improve future treatment. The collaboration between innovative health insurance companies, specialists and patients has enabled exemplary progress in care nationwide beyond standard care. These must be maintained and expanded. Patient dialogue always plays a central role.

Contact address
Prof. Dr.
Hartmut Göbel Pain Clinic Kiel
Heikendorfer Weg 9-27
D-24149 Kiel
Telephone 0431 200 99 150
Fax 0431 200 99 109
E-mail: hg@krebsklinik.de
Web: www.krebsklinik.de