Promoting care in focus

A pilot project is starting this year at the Traunstein Clinic, which was developed by and with nursing staff and is funded with 363,000 euros by the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation. The aim is to make things easier for nursing staff under the given framework conditions. The care sector, with its increasingly complex range of tasks, is to be promoted and training and further education strengthened. The pilot project includes the innovative use of technology for physical relief and the use of specially trained professionals to reduce psychosocial stress in the intensive care area.

"For years, Kliniken Südwestbayern has been concerned with making the work environment in the care sector more effective and, above all, more attractive. With the digitization of our patient files, we have already been able to achieve some simplifications in the everyday life of our nursing staff. We are grateful that we can now take the next development step at Klinikum Traunstein with the support of the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation," explains Dr. Uwe Gretscher, CEO of the Southeast Bavaria Clinic.

One of the focal points is the ergonomic, energy- and time-saving design of work processes. In addition to particularly ergonomic therapy intensive care beds, so-called exoskeletons are also used. The devices are put on like vests and increase human muscle power many times over. They are already used in many industries where lifting activities have to be carried out. So far, only very few clinics have discovered the use in the field of care for themselves. With the exoskeletons, the patient can be repositioned in his bed with minimal use of force or the first common standing up in the remobilization phase can be practiced - much easier on the back of the nursing staff.

Furthermore, the relief in psychosocial issues in the sensitive intensive care area is an important cornerstone. Especially in the intensive care units, patients and their relatives are in an often serious exceptional situation and then also need intensive mental support. "As a specialist with special psychological training, you can do a lot here, relax the situation for everyone involved and help the intensive care staff by saving time," says Gisela Otrzonsek, psycho-oncologist at the Traunstein Clinic. With the measure, patients can be offered an extended range of advice and care, which is also available to nursing staff for their own concerns in crisis situations.

The training and further education of specialists is promoted with special training offers. For example, three new modern simulation dolls are procured in the nursing school. Furthermore, offers are provided that support the integration of returnees and the onboarding of skilled workers from abroad. This includes language training and refresher courses, for example in handling digital equipment.

The Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation has been involved with the Traunstein Clinic for several years. Last year, the mobile ECMO emergency team was strengthened with two additional mobile heart-lung machines and its own emergency vehicle. At the peak of the pandemic in 2019, she donated her own rapid Covid 19 laboratory. In previous years, funding had focused on digitization projects. “Qualified nursing staff is of enormous importance for our region and the citizens. Providing the best healthcare for the people in the region is one of our most important tasks. A heartfelt thank you to the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation and their support,” said District Administrator Siegfried Walch.

Robert Mayr, one of the founders of the Eva Mayr-Stihl Foundation, has a special connection to the region: "The region and the Traunstein Clinic are particularly important to me, because I was born there more than 80 years ago. Since the foundation focuses its work on medicine and, in my view, doing something for the nursing profession is a social priority, I have made this the focus of our foundation work this year.”

To get in contact with Southeast Bavaria Clinic:

Corinna Noack-Aetopulos
Fundraising 

Tel.: +49 (0)861 705-1534
E-Mail: corinna.noack-aetopulos@kliniken-sob.de