[Resources needed to ensure inpatient psycho-oncological care].

The aim of this study was to document how many patients with malignant diseases in an acute care hospital can be supported by one full time psycho-oncologist and how long each procedure takes. Over the course of 2 years, frequency and duration of all interventions provided by a psycho-oncologist were documented at 6 hospitals in Germany. A total of 4 947 patients received 20 366 psycho-oncological interventions. One full time position could care for 351 (1st year) and 436 (2nd year) patients respectively. The most frequent intervention was supportive counselling to single patients (22%) with an average duration of 29 min. Patients received on average 4 consultations. In addition, many short contacts with a duration of 10 min were provided. On average, psycho-oncological care could be provided by a person with a full-time position to 393 patients with malignant diseases. Most of the consultations were of short duration (10-30 min).