Table 3.

functioning and organisation of SCEN and LEIF

Functioning & Organisation	LEIF	SCEN
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†
Training	24 hours spread over 5 modules in 28 weeks	22.5 hours spread over 3 days in 5 weeks
	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)
	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
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 †
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 †
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)
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 ||
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 †
Support	No more direct financial support after 2007¶	Annually 1.000.000€ support from the Dutch government ||

* Source: interview with the director and training moderator of LEIF

† Source: http://knmg.artsennet.nl

‡ Source: http://www.leif.be

§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