[Denmark's first research facility in palliative medicine. Organization and research strategy]

Denmark's first palliative medicine research unit is now being set up at Bispebjerg Hospital, with single-room and two double-room ward. The multidisciplinary team consists of doctors, a psychologist, nurses, a physiotherapist, an ergotherapist, a medical social worker, a priest and a dietician. An out-patient facility is also being established to enable patients to choose between hospitalisation out-patient treatment or home treatment by appropriate staff. Another aspect of palliative medicine is care of the patient's family members. The intervention offered at our facility is led by a psychologist, and consists primarily of counselling. With its limited clinical opacity, the department of palliative medicine is first and foremost a research and development facility. The first chair in palliative medicine in Denmark was conferred upon the department in 1998.