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Nuremberg (dpa / lby) - High work pressure, dying patients and the fear of being infected - many nurses and doctors at Bavaria's hospitals are reaching their limits in view of the high number of infections.
"The burden is higher than in the spring, when we were still fresh," said the psychologist Eva Katharina Krauss-Köstler from the Nuremberg Clinic.
The first corona wave has already left its mark and everyone still has to persevere.
In this situation, a psychosocial crisis intervention team is supposed to support the employees at the Nuremberg Clinic.
The 25 employees can be reached on a crisis hotline every day from morning until night.
“It is very different what moves people,” said Krauss-Köstler, who looks after the crisis intervention team.
Some suffered from the heavy workload, others worried about not having enough time for the family or even infecting them with the coronavirus.
"We have noticed that we are contacted more when a young person dies of Covid-19."
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But the team also regularly goes to the stations that are particularly affected in order to get an idea for themselves - and above all to build trust.
"There is a high threshold for employees to turn to a crisis intervention team," said the head psychologist Barbara Stein from the Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy.
It often helps to talk about worries and insecurities in the team.
In everyday life, however, that is just getting lost.
"There is currently no air to breathe deeply," said Stein.
The Association of Nurses in Bavaria also offers crisis advice.
Specially trained nursing staff help their professional colleagues with problems, but also consult experts with ethical or professional questions.
"In the intensive care units in particular, the work pressure increases extremely," said President Georg Sigl-Lehner.
In addition, the psychological burden increases with every Covid 19 patient because the risk of infection and the confrontation with death increases.
Many hospital employees are now taking their worries and the sometimes traumatic experiences home with them.
At the moment there is a lack of opportunities to retreat where employees can talk to each other without a mask, said the spokesman for the Bavarian hospital society, Eduard Fuchshuber.
"That doesn't make the situation any easier."
Many hospitals therefore tried to make up for this with pastoral and psychotherapeutic offers.
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But sometimes even seemingly small things can make a big difference.
"Sometimes fixed daily structures such as a shared lunch break are given up under stress," said Krauss-Köstler.
The crisis intervention team then reminds the employees how important this is in order to regain strength.
Breathing and relaxation exercises could also help.
"That changes the mood immediately."
Information about the Nuremberg Clinic