“It’s not the mountain that I conquer, but my own self.”
For the 23rd time, the Southeast Bavarian Clinics invited to the traditional Chiemgau intensive care day on November 11th, 2023. The Chiemgau Intensive Care Day is an annual training course for medical and nursing staff in intensive care units and this year took place in the beautiful premises of the Kulturforum Klosterkirche in Traunstein. With over 100 participants who were able to get up to date on various topics in intensive care medicine, the event was once again very well attended. This year, professional mountaineer and extreme climber Alexander Huber opened the event as a special guest with a lecture on the topic “Fear is your best friend”.
How can the experiences of an extreme climber be transferred to everyday life in an intensive care unit? With a stunning lecture, Alexander Huber gave an insight into his own experiences with the fear of failure, as well as how to deal with the fear of failure, which ultimately makes the adventurous climbing records of the "Huberbuam" possible. “If we do what we do with enthusiasm and this enthusiasm lives within us, then we can become really good and achieve things that initially seem impossible,” says Alexander Huber. “We can only win if we accept challenges. “Seeing the big picture and remaining open to different perspectives is crucial,” he continues. His tip: Don't avoid fears, but face them, prepare for dangerous situations through optimal training and planning and know your team well.
“A suitable recipe for dealing with challenges that also arise in intensive care units,” says Holger Liermann, senior physician in the Traunstein intensive care unit. Together with his colleague Dr. Markus Barth he guided through the varied program.
After Alexander Huber's highly interesting description, the psychologist M Sc. MSc. Annika Neumann explained how a new project in the Traunstein intensive care units is helping patients and relatives overcome fears. There has been a psychological service for a year now, which is currently financed by the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation and is very well received at the clinic. Annika Neumann clearly described the mechanisms behind the development of fear and how fears can be countered with simple breathing techniques or the use of imagination. Many intensive care units do not yet have a psychological service, although this is where patients and relatives have to deal with particularly serious life crises and psychological support is urgently needed by the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine. V. (DIVI) is recommended. The Traunstein Clinic is therefore also a member of a Germany-wide specialist group that advocates for this service to be included in regular funding.
The next Chiemgau intensive day will take place on November 16th, 2024.
