Staff shortages due to Omikron - doctor gives insight: "Pressure on general wards has been very high for weeks"
Created: 08/04/2022 07:09
By: Katarina Amtmann
There are still many corona patients in Bavaria's clinics (symbol image) © IMAGO / Reichwein
How does the Regensburg hospital rate "Freedom Day" in Bavaria, is the easing coming too early?
Two doctors give an insight.
Regensburg – The incidence in Bavaria continues to go down.
On Friday, the RKI reported a value of Bavaria 1383.2 (previous day: 1514.5).
Since "Freedom Day" on Sunday, April 3rd, a large part of the Corona rules have expired - despite the fact that the numbers are still high - including the obligation to wear masks in schools and retail.
Corona situation at the Regensburg UKR: Clinic advises mask and tests
But what do hospitals say about the easing?
"Of course we understand the desire for normality, but unfortunately the pandemic is not over yet," said Sabine Stoll, spokeswoman for the Nuremberg clinic when asked by
Merkur.de.
"
The new corona measures appeal very much to people's sense of responsibility," says the Regensburg University Hospital.
The currently predominant omicron variant has less severe disease progression than the delta variant.
In addition, the majority of the population is vaccinated.
"Basically, it is still advisable, especially in larger crowds, to continue to wear a mask and to test yourself before meeting friends, family celebrations, etc.," says Professor Bernd Salzberger, Head of Infectious Diseases at the UKR.
At the Regensburg University Hospital, 17 Covid patients are currently being treated in intensive care, and 22 patients with Corona are currently in the general ward.
According to the UKR, this value can fluctuate over the course of the day because patients are transferred.
"The pressure on the general wards has been very high for a few weeks, while the pressure on the intensive care units is slowly easing," says Prof. Bernhard Graf, Deputy Medical Director and Pandemic Officer at the UKR.
Regensburg clinic mentions the difference between omicron and delta waves
"In one third of the COVID patients in our intensive care units, the infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus is only a concomitant disease and they are in intensive care treatment due to another underlying disease." The currently predominant omicron variant of the virus is very contagious, but associated with far less severe disease progression when compared to the previous variants.
The picture was different during the delta wave.
Although the infection rate was lower, the proportion of seriously ill COVID patients in our intensive care units was significantly higher," said Graf when asked by
Merkur.de
.
At peak times, over 40 corona patients were cared for in the intensive care unit, almost half of them at the ECMO.
"At that time, however, the burden on the general ward with COVID patients was lower than it is at the moment, at least for us as the maximum care provider."
Extreme easing in Bavaria - are we too careless?
Physicians with assessment
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Corona situation at the UKR Regensburg: staff heavily burdened
Does the current situation have an impact on clinic operations?
"As has been the case since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic about two years ago, highly elective and medically justifiable interventions have to be postponed again and again due to urgency in order to be able to react more flexibly to staff shortages and to be able to treat urgent patients immediately.
We're talking about prioritizing the interventions," says Graf.
However, the care of emergency patients and patients with “acutely urgent care needs” is guaranteed at all times.
And further: “But this situation also leads to a considerable additional workload for the medical and nursing staff deployed.
As in other clinics, this is reinforced by increased sickness-related absences among the staff, which we are not familiar with from the previous COVID waves," explains Graf.
Despite the reduced operating room and bed capacities, the hospital can only be supplied with care if all available staff are used to the full.
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