The procedure has long since established itself in the treatment of tumor diseases.

In a so-called case conference, doctors from a wide range of specialist areas talk about further therapeutic steps and jointly create a treatment plan that is tailored to the patient.

Because “Scheme F” has no place in the fight against cancer.

Neither in the fight against the long-term consequences of Corona.

Marie Lisa Kehler

Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Patients who suffer from long-term consequences of a corona infection should benefit from a similar procedure in the future.

At the BG Unfallklinik, doctors and therapists from various departments are already creating individual rehab plans to enable the patient to step back into everyday life and thus back to work.

No clinical picture is the same, says Christoph Reimertz, chief physician of the rehabilitation center.

This is another reason why a standard rehab program cannot simply be prescribed.

"In the case conference we have to look together at what the appropriate therapy plan can look like," he says.

"We want to bring everyone up to a scientific standard"

Because not much is known about the long-term consequences of a corona infection, the exchange with colleagues is particularly important. Reimertz and his colleagues will have the opportunity to do so on Thursday and Friday at the so-called “Rehabilitation Symposion” of the BG Kliniken in Messe Frankfurt. As a medical facility of the statutory accident insurance, the BG clinics in Germany have the task of providing all suitable means to people after work accidents or because of an occupational disease.

The aim of the symposium is to jointly set standards for a specific post-Covid rehab, to learn from each other and thus also to improve the prospects for the patients.

“We want to bring everyone up to a scientific standard.

We are currently only treating the symptoms with therapy, ”says Reimertz.

Among other things, it should also be about the question of which rehabilitation measures have been available to corona patients so far and how the therapy plans can be optimized.

The task of corona aftercare has also taken up more space in the BG Clinic in Frankfurt in recent months, says Reimertz.

Corona as an accident at work

The BG clinics are named as a contact point for people who can be shown to have been infected during work and suffer from long-term corona consequences. "We have the nurse here who got infected in the intensive care unit, but also the waiter who got it from a guest," says Reimertz. He speaks of more than 100,000 patients across Germany whose corona infection has been recognized as an occupational disease or an occupational accident. These mainly include people who work in the medical field, such as doctors, paramedics or nurses.

According to the Social Security Code, they are entitled to special rehabilitation measures in order to “restore the health and performance of the insured by all appropriate means”. Many who complain of persistent complaints, such as fatigue, lung problems or poor concentration, are admitted to the clinic in order to do a so-called "post-Covid-Check". The post-Covid symptom is used when the symptoms have not disappeared for more than twelve weeks after the infection. The patients are thoroughly examined again. Thereafter, a therapy plan is drawn up with therapists and doctors from different specialist areas. Consultants who later help with professional integration are also involved at an early stage.

Many of the patients that Reimertz and his colleagues have cared for over the past few months have returned to their everyday lives. “We know that many symptoms disappear again after the first few months.” However, many patients are so severely affected that returning to work is out of the question for the time being. "That will still be a challenge for the social system," says Reimertz, who hopes that long-term damage can be kept as low as possible through individual rehabilitation measures. “It must be avoided that the symptoms become chronic.” As long as little is known about the consequences of the disease, however, it is important to promote the exchange between the doctors.