2024-02-04 13:10:00
Published4. February 2024, 2:10 p.m.
Lack of staff: Distress call from children’s hospitals in Switzerland
Postponed operations, transfer of children to other hospitals… Pediatric clinics are experiencing a difficult situation.
The Zurich hospital is particularly affected.
20min/Marco Zangger
Winter is becoming a test for pediatric hospitals, reports today’s “SonntagsBlick”. Because the lack of staff becomes even more acute in winter with its viral illnesses which affect both children and employees.
Hence the need for painful measures, including in particular the reduction in the number of beds, the postponement of operations and the transfer of sick children (from Zurich to Bern, or from Lugano to Zurich). Because the Zurich hospital is particularly affected. We are therefore forced to reorganize the bed capacity every day.
These peaks of activity should, however, decrease in the spring, notes Bojan Josifovic, spokesperson: “It is especially hospitals in large cities that are strongly affected by the shortages. And specialized sectors such as pediatrics suffer in particular from a lack of doctors,” he adds.
Structural shortage too
But the staff shortage is also structural, notes Malte Frenzel of AllKidS, the Alliance of pediatric hospitals in Switzerland. Care for seriously ill children remains guaranteed. However, the wait in emergency rooms for children with less serious health problems can be longer. This represents additional stress for parents of children who are sick or who must be transferred.
Note that transfers are inevitable when the capacities of pediatric hospitals are no longer sufficient. They represent the only way to guarantee continuous and effective treatment of all patients, according to Malte Frenzel.
Staff pools against shortage
Faced with staff shortages, some hospitals have created “nursing staff pools”: employees who work at low occupancy rates or on temporary assignments and who are compensated when they take on short-term call duty.
To avoid these emergency practices, AllKidS wants to create more attractive work models, notes Malte Frenzel. “Pediatrics and adolescent medicine enjoy a good reputation,” he adds. This helps to advertise for taking up activity in this area.”
There will be a shortage of 2,000 doctors and 30,000 nurses in 2030
According to forecasts, there will be a shortage of 2,000 doctors and 30,000 nurses throughout Switzerland in 2030. The Federal Council and the Federal Chambers have not yet realized the shortage of doctors, criticizes Malte Frenzel of AllKidS. In his opinion, the policy limits their training absurdly with a numerus clausus and reduces the attractiveness of the profession. And this, “knowing that already today, three quarters of doctors who start working in Switzerland have obtained their diploma abroad,” he notes.
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