The situation in hospitals is increasingly challenging: “We can still hold on” – Coronavirus Vienna

In view of the massive increase in the number of coronavirus infections, the situation in hospitals is becoming increasingly challenging, also for medical and nursing staff. The latter in particular have already reached the limit of their resilience due to 24-hour work, as Vienna staff representative Edgar Martin warned in an interview with the APA. The risk of burning employees is serious.

The situation is difficult, especially since Corona affects everyone personally, Martin said. He is a registered nurse in the health association and vice president of Major Group II of the youth union. “I think what most worries people is the emotional backpack they carry with them.” You also have to take care of children or partners at home. You don’t leave illness behind when you leave the hospital. This permanent burden should not be underestimated: “That does something to you.”

“Many also have to leave traditional areas and rotate into special areas.” Of course, you should only work there if you’ve been to school, but you don’t have as much experience there as the staff who usually work there, she noted. This applies especially to intensive care units: “Therefore, it is associated with massive uncertainty when leaving the familiar ground. The fear of doing something wrong is there.”

Edgar Martin was convinced that if triage were ever to be performed, that is, the forced selection of corona intensive care patients in the event of an overload of intensive care capabilities, the burden would continue to increase enormously. The situation can still be addressed: “We will hold on.” But that could change if the next level is reached, the trade unionist warned.

It is already becoming clear that the impact of stress varies greatly among those affected: “There are colleagues who want to give up everything and others who want to work a lot of overtime.” More recently, the attack in Vienna, after which many people had to be treated in Vienna hospitals, caused emotional stress. “It is deep inside,” says the unionist.

However, Martin cautioned against monitoring only medical professionals and nurses. Administrative staff, cleaning staff and technicians would also be affected by the current situation, but not as much as the core group. There is a risk that they will go unnoticed.

The staff representative emphasized that employees are being cared for: “Our psychologists are currently under great pressure. But processing will only occur when there is pressure.” If someone is currently absent, the problem immediately escalates, Edgar Martin said. It would be dramatic if many had to stay home early to babysit: “A school closure would pulverize us.”

The chairman of the health union in the public services union (GÖD), Reinhard Waldhör, described the mood among hospital staff in Lower Austria as tense on Thursday. The Chairman of the State Hospital Horn works council identified a lack of recovery phases: “We have been in crisis mode since March.” Above all, work in the intensive care unit – including protective equipment – undermines the psychological and physical substance.

Waldhör mentioned in the APA conversation that the workforce is getting thinner. There is a “certain percentage” of employees who cannot perform their work because they themselves have Covid-19 or consider themselves contact persons. “It is clear that the companions have to compensate that.”

The situation in intensive care units is particularly precarious. “Patients are more laborious and a higher degree of protective equipment is required,” Waldhör said. With FFP2 masks, harness and full body protection, staff stay by the bed for about four hours without the opportunity for a drink. Also, there is strenuous activity: “Knocking a ventilated man unconscious is a real challenge.”

Accuracy is also required when setting and monitoring fans. “This requires highly qualified personnel”, of which there are not enough in total.

An employee exchange based on solidarity is not possible because the corona pandemic currently affects all regions equally. “Even in the sparsely populated Waldviertel, we have reached the limits of capacity.” The most important change to the status quo that we must fight for is therefore a reduction in the infection rate: “If the numbers go down, we can breathe again.”

In recent weeks, the Lower Austrian Chamber of Labor (AKNÖ) has registered an increasing number of inquiries about protective equipment and tests from nurses. According to Bernhard Rupp, head of the health policy department, the tenor was that both were constantly perceived as a burden.

The AKNÖ called for a “sensible analysis” of the structure of the clinics’ workforce with respect to members of risk groups. The increased use of robotics and assistive technologies was also encouraged. “Why should people work in danger when there are other solutions,” Rupp said.