Compulsory vaccination for special professions: fears that there will be a shortage of staff in the clinic
Created: 01/24/2022, 12:02 p.m
By: Martina Lippl
Nursing staff in intensive care units are particularly challenged in the corona pandemic.
© Jens Büttner/dpa
Hospitals are already struggling with staff shortages.
With the coming vaccination obligation, clinics expect further restrictions in patient care.
Berlin – The corona vaccination rate among nursing staff is very high.
95 percent of nurses are fully vaccinated.
For employees in patient-related areas, the vaccination rate is 90 percent.
This is the result of a current survey* by the German Hospital Society (DKG).
If the vaccination requirement for employees in clinics and care comes into force in mid-March, this could exacerbate the shortage of staff despite the vaccination quotas.
Experts warn of a hazard in patient care.
Institution-related compulsory vaccination - hospitals expect staff problems
According to the DKG survey, two thirds of the hospitals (66 percent) expect restrictions in patient care if unvaccinated staff can no longer be employed from March 16th.
"It is all the more important that legal clarity is created and that the health authorities implement the further procedure after March 15th uniformly and with appropriate transition periods," said DKG boss Gerald Gaß in a current press release on Monday. Gass immediately calls for the implementation of the general obligation to vaccinate. "Because in the long run it is difficult to explain to the employees at the bedside why they themselves are subject to compulsory vaccination, but at the same time the vast majority of the patients they have to take care of have carelessly not used the vaccination," says the DKB boss .
The staffing level in the hospitals is currently already thin.
Almost two thirds of the hospitals record more than usual or even significantly higher absences due to illness.
"Staff absences are currently a much bigger problem than in normal years," says Gass.
According to a result of the DKB survey, every second hospital is currently unable to fully operate its beds on the general wards due to sickness-related staff shortages.
Medical Association: At the beginning of February it will be tight in the clinics
According to the Marburger Bund, clinics will reach their limit in a few days.
"By the beginning of February at the latest, it will be very tight in hospitals across Germany if the number of infections continues to rise at this rate," said the chairwoman of the Marburger Bund doctors' union, Susanne Johna, to the newspapers of the
Funke media group
on Saturday.
She expects that a large number of medical and nursing staff will be absent in the coming weeks because they have become infected and have to isolate themselves.
“The staff is the bottleneck”
This applies to outpatient care as well as to inpatient care.
A further increase in the number of infections could mean “that the care of the population will no longer correspond to the usual standard,” said Johna.
Unlike in the first wave of the pandemic, it is no longer a question of too little technology or too few ventilators.
"The staff is the bottleneck."
For whom does the corona vaccination apply from March 2022?
According to the reform of the Infection Protection Act, employees in health and care facilities have until March 15 to prove whether they have been fully vaccinated, have recovered from corona or present a medical certificate of their non-vaccinability.
Vaccination is compulsory for groups of people in certain facilities:
in clinics
nursing homes
Medical and dental practices
rescue and care services
Birth centers and other medical and nursing facilities
Anyone who cannot provide proof of immunity after March 16th is generally no longer allowed to work there.
Many hospitals also inform their staff of possible consequences under labor law, such as the release of unvaccinated employees without continued payment of wages.
Employees in clinics or care should preferably be offered Novavax
Employees in clinics or in nursing should be able to “prefer” to receive the Novavax corona vaccine.
The health ministers of the federal and state governments decided on Saturday (January 22nd).
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Several media observe advertisements from unvaccinated nurses.
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(ml) *According to the DKG, 246 hospitals with 50 or more beds were surveyed on January 18th and 19th for the online survey.