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The situation in intensive care units in Switzerland is serious, but it is still under control. The staff situation is becoming precarious.
The intensive care units in Swiss hospitals are currently three-quarters full. But this average is somewhat misleading: in many intensive care units there are only a few beds available, for example in the Zurich University Hospital there are currently only two.
Difficult situation in Biel
This is why certain hospitals take a serious tone, for example, Kristian Schneider, director of the Hospital Center of Biel: “I am absolutely of the opinion that we are facing a health crisis. We were not prepared in that regard and we did not assume that the second wave would have such a massive impact on the supply system. “
The regional differences are large: Western Switzerland has been particularly affected, as Jean-Daniel Chiche from the University Hospital of Lausanne says: “The situation in intensive care units in Western Switzerland remains extremely tense.”
The situation in intensive care units in western Switzerland remains extremely tense.
Capacity utilization is between 80 and 90 percent. The Cantonal Hospital of Vaud, for example, had to double the number of beds in the intensive care unit to be able to admit all patients.
Help from German-speaking Switzerland
Hospitals in French-speaking Switzerland also depend on help from German-speaking Switzerland: last week, around 35 patients were transferred from French-speaking Switzerland to other hospitals that currently have more capacities, particularly in German-speaking Switzerland.
In the second wave, we treat 30 percent of patients outside the canton.
This collaboration between Swiss hospitals is key to tackling the current crisis. And the cooperation works well, emphasizes Peter Steiger of the Zurich University Hospital: “In the second wave we treated 30 percent of patients outside the canton.”
The staff situation is reaching a critical point
The capacity of intensive care units is only one aspect: each hospital bed also needs staff who can care for patients. And the staff is scarce, as Gregor Zünd of the Zurich University Hospital says: “The bottlenecks for us are not the beds, but the staff. That is why these personnel are deployed there to benefit the intensive care units. “
And that is why many hospitals are looking for additional nurse specialists. The existing staff is suffering because the load has been too high since the spring.
Overload terminations
Myriam De Gregorio works as a registered nurse at the Aargau Cantonal Hospital. He says that the whole summer was very exhausting because operations had to be postponed.
“Then the team gave notice because the workload is too high,” says De Gregorio. A lot is demanded: overtime, no lunch breaks. Maybe you had a sandwich and went back to work. This is very stressful over a long period of time.
Relief of necessary personnel
Biel Hospital Director Schneider understands the staff concerns: “It is difficult work and we currently expect something almost superhuman from the nurses and doctors. We have to focus on that. “
Today we expect something almost superhuman from nurses and doctors.
It is important to relieve staff again; otherwise, layoffs could continue to rise, Schneider said. The examples show: Until now, the healthcare system has been able to cope with the high level of stress. But there is not much room for maneuver.
