The prevalence of bereavement rooms at German hospitals: a cross-sectional observational study from 2016

The majority of people wish to die at home (1-3). However, studies of the place of death show that the hospital is the most frequent place of death in western industrial countries (4-8). In Germany, slightly more than one percent of the total population dies each year. According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, 910,902 German citizens died in 2016 (9). Approximately one in two deaths (n=419,359) occurred at hospital (10). Consequently, taking care of dying patients and their bereaved relatives should be an important task for hospital staff