Joining forces against COVID-19

Every one of our approximately 14,000 employees and every department has felt the effects of the Corona pandemic. This has put a burden on everyday life. On the other hand, it has also initiated changes from which we will benefit in many areas in the long term.

The pandemic - an enormous administrative effort! Our team continuously adjusted to the changing regulations. In addition to many discussions, coordination and research, this also meant sending out over 14,000 letters to employees each time. But Corona has also changed our work for the better: For example, online meetings are now routine and workflows have been digitized. And last but not least, the team spirit among our colleagues has grown once again.

Measures to contain the Corona pandemic, such as restrictions on visiting hours or even the number of accompanying persons, led to a significant increase in the need for communication and information, especially among relatives. Accordingly, the number of complaints was also higher: the 5-year average for 2021 was an increase of around 10 percent. Analogously, the processing time was also higher in order to meet the need for clarification. Particularly helpful for the rapid resolution of inquiries, were the good and close cooperation with all clinics, as well as KSG and other areas, and the clear guidelines of our Corona Task Force. In the course of complaint handling, it also became clear what high additional workloads medical, nursing and service staff were and still are exposed to due to the pandemic situation.

After the first cases of the disease appeared in February 2020, we set up a hotline for employees. Over the past two years, in addition to all other tasks, our team has spent 11,682 hours alone advising employees on all aspects of the pandemic, vaccinations and infectiousness. And the need for information was only one facet. As a result of the pandemic, we were faced with numerous tasks and requirements. As occupational physicians, we have been instrumental in managing the pandemic at UKHD, from vaccinations and corona testing to hygiene plans and consultations.

If the elevator is not working again, the stairs must be used. In food service, we have zero tolerance for the non-delivery of our services. That means it's a challenge to guarantee 100 percent meal processing every day. We were very challenged to ensure that meals were always provided to patients and employees. Due to the hygiene regulations in force, we had to serve the food as take-away meals at times. This resulted in additional packaging material costs. Waste disposal also became more of a burden. Despite all the challenges, I am proud of my team, which has always mastered the situation with full commitment.

Corona has accelerated digitization projects. From the start of the pandemic to the end of 2021, our teams doubled the number of access points for home office workplaces and increased video conferencing solutions fourfold, among other things. In addition to general employee support, new offerings were also established for patients, such as 5,000 online medical consultations. We supported clinical work with 300 new medical technology systems on the COVID stations.

We were and are directly involved in the vaccination campaigns and testing strategies and ensured that there were always sufficient materials and medications available. Since 2020, the UKHD pharmacy has dispensed over one million rapid tests to date and over 1.2 million vaccine doses. In the process, the pharmacy has produced over 70,000 vaccination shots.

With the combined efforts of all lecturers, the teaching coordinators, the Dean of Studies and IT Teaching, we have succeeded in offering the students continuous teaching and in being able to conduct all examinations. Wherever the framework conditions allowed, we took organizational measures to enable face-to-face teaching. In addition, a large digital teaching offer was created. This includes approximately 700 hours of instructional videos, more than 130 virtual patient cases and digital learning units, and more than 650 video conference rooms that we make available in Moodle. Despite the limitations, Heidelberg students achieved excellent results in the first state exam in medicine.

One of our new pandemic-related responsibilities is access control. With twelve emergency personnel every day, we are responsible for all exterior doors of the clinics on campus. In 2021, we checked approximately 1,800,000 patients, relatives, and external visitors at the entrance; always in line with the current legal requirements for proof of immunization.

The pandemic has caused a lot of uncertainty and broken up the established routines. Information, answers and opinions were sought - both internally and externally. The sole topic in the spring of 2020 and the intensive search for content and experts was unique. Corona continued to be a major challenge for Corporate Communications, as the interface for contacts at the hospital and for outside groups, in 2021. In addition to press inquiries about research and care topics, around 500 press inquiries about Corona were handled and interview partners arranged, the sensitive topic was communicated on the central social media channels, more than 750 employee inquiries were handled, and around two employee mailings were sent out per week. Graphic formats were used to provide orientation on campus, and internal and external information pages were set up online. A more than intensive time that once again made clear how important it is to work well together as a team. Thank you!