Calling for Help-Peer-Based Psychosocial Support for Medical Staff by Telephone-A Best Practice Example from Germany.

BACKGROUND: A telephone support hotline (PSU-HELPLINE) was established at the beginning of the pandemic due to the burden on health professionals and the lack of support at the workplace. The aim of this study was to evaluate the telephone support service for health professionals in terms of its burden, benefits, and mechanisms of action. METHODS: Data collection was conducted during and after calls by PSU-HELPLINE counsellors. In addition to the socio-demographic data evaluation, burdens of the callers and the benefits of the calls were collected. The content-analytical evaluation of the stresses as well as the effect factors were based on Mayring's (2022). RESULTS: Most of the callers were highly to very highly stressed. The usefulness of the conversation was rated as strong to very strong by both callers and counsellors. The PSU-HELPLINE was used primarily for processing serious events and in phases of overload. The support work was carried out through the following aspects of so-called effect factors, among others: psychoeducation, change of perspective, resource activation, problem actualization, connectedness, information, problem solving, self-efficacy, and preservation of resources. CONCLUSIONS: The expansion of local peer support structures and the possibility of a telephone helpline are recommended. Further research is needed.

First Results of Peer Training for Medical Staff-Psychosocial Support through Peer Support in Health Care.

BACKGROUND: In view of the increasing strain on health workers, psychosocial support measures are becoming more important. The core of a sustainable concept is the establishment of peer support teams. Two aspects are central: first, target group-specific training content, and second, suitable staff members who are trained as peers. The goal of the study was to obtain a first look at what content can be taught in peer training for medical staff, how the training is evaluated by the target group, and which people are interested in training from peers. METHODS: During the period 2017-2022, Peer Training for medical staff was developed by a non-profit institution in Germany with state funding and the support of a medical professional association and evaluated during the project. Participants (N = 190) in the Peer Training course were interviewed in advance about their experiences and stresses at work using an anonymous questionnaire. After completing the training modules, the participants filled out an evaluation form. RESULTS: The participants of the Peer Training were predominantly female (70.5%) and middle-aged (between 31 and 50 years old). Most (80.3%) experienced stressful events themselves, mostly without any preparation (93.5%) or follow-up (86.8%) by the employer. The participants estimate their workload in the medium range. The proportion of stressed individuals among the participants was below that of various comparison groups as available reference values. The training module itself was evaluated very positively. CONCLUSIONS: The content and framework parameters of the training were rated very well. There is a high degree of fit with the requirements in the health sector. The participants in the Peer Training seem to represent a good cross-section of the target group medical staff, also regarding their own experiences, seem to have a good psychological constitution and are therefore very suitable to work as peers after the training.

[Burnout in Intensive Care]. / Burnout in der Intensivmedizin.

Both acute crises and chronically incriminating circumstances in people's lives may lead to their being afflicted by psychological and somatic ailments. "Burnout" has been coined and established as the term for chronic occupational strain. Many professions claim to be extraordinarily affected by burnout, amongst others physicians and nurses, especially those working in anaesthesiology and critical care. Usually assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventary, the prevalence of moderate or severe burnout in these areas is estimated at about 30 % amongst nurses and about 40 % to 50 % amongst physicians. Both individual characteristics of those afflicted and occupational factors - as well as their interactions - are made responsible for causing burnout. The complexity of potentially stressful impingements, though, particularly within anaesthesiology and critical care, cannot be covered by the traditional burnout-paradigm. The plethora of recommendations found in popular science may be helpful in individual cases. However, there are no evidence-based preventive or therapeutic measures yet, that would endurably mitigate the sequelae of chronic occupational strain. On the one hand, occupationally burdensome factors needed to be registered more elaborately, for instance using the "Stress-Monitor" instrument. On the other hand, an in-hospital "peer-support system" has been developed and implemented in a Munich hospital recently. Anaesthetists and intensive care physicians have formed a network that supports health care workers surmounting acute occupational strain and thus helps to prevent its chronification. Ultimately, the goal of health care workers needed to consist of establishing individual work-related strategies to adequately cope with the manifold occupational stressors in a lifelong learning process.