The core documentation is an ongoing quality insurance project for the palliative care units in Germany. In 54 palliative care units (PA) 1248 patients were documented in 2002. Five oncology wards with 112 patients (ON), 2 geriatric wards with 49 patients (GE) and 8 inpatient hospices with 157 patients (HO) using the same core documentation served as a control group. Discharge home or to another care facility was possible for 50% of the patients of PA (ON 74%, GE 78%, HO 5%). The percentage of patients with step-3 opioids increased from 54% at the time of admission to 63% at the end of therapy in PA (ON 13% to 17%, GE 4% to 9%, HO 59% to 69%). Corticosteroids increased from 28% to 33% in PA (ON 10% to 16%, GE 2% to 4%, HO 23% to 20%). Cardiac drugs were reduced from 26% to 13% in PA (ON 27% to 23%, GE 82% to 76%, HO 27% to 12%). Consent on discontinuation or omission of therapies was documented for 43% of the patients in the PA, 5% in ON, 10% in GE and 35% in HO. Mean scores for 8 physical symptoms were reduced from 1.35 at admission to 1.00 at the end of therapy in PA (ON.51 to.45; GE.65 to.37; HO 1.28 to 1.32), mean scores for 4 psychological symptoms from 1.09 to 0.92 in PA,.31 to.27 in ON,.63 to.48 in GE and.99 to 1.06 in HO, mean scores for 2 social problems from 1.47 to.98 in PA,.20 to.22 in ON,.75 to.30 in GE and 1.64 to 1.12 in HO and mean scores for 2 nursing problems from.99 to.98 in PA,.21 to.18 in ON,.52 to.35 in GE and 1.15 to 1.25 in HO. The Palliative Outcome Score POS was reduced from 17.2 to 10.8 in PA (ON 8.8 to 8.1, GE 11.2 to 7.9, HO 14.4 to 11.5). Compared to oncological and geriatric wards and inpatient hospices the palliative care units showed distinct profiles in the procedures and outcomes evaluated in this study.