Gastroenterologist, Germany

After the Covid-19 pandemic, my daily practice changed a lot. Before the crisis, daily schedules and responsibilities were reliable and time for research was protected each week. Of course, caring for patients was the main focus during the pandemic and research and education secondary. However, after the pandemic, a lot of colleagues still suffer from exhaustion and often become demotivated. You can see it in the high number of sick days and the demands to fill the gaps in the endoscopy or ultrasound departments. This has now become the rule rather than the exception.

Time for research has disappeared. The feeling of togetherness, teamwork and mutual support has declined, and people are often not able or willing to do more, or not willing to help address the growing staff shortages. This is not exclusive to physicians and is more often seen in the nursing staff.

In my opinion, many people in the health care system never got over the pandemic. They never had time to recover. More political support for more free days or other interventions are urgently needed to keep healthcare workers in a system with diminishing resources. Otherwise, more and more hospitals and private practices will not be able to find qualified staff to keep the system alive.