• Urs Münch, Heidi Müller, Teresa Deffner, Andrea von Schmude, Martina Kern, Susanne Kiepke-Ziemes, and Lukas Radbruch.
• Klinik für Allgemein- und Viszeralchirurgie, DRK Kliniken Berlin Westend, Berlin, Deutschland.
• Schmerz. 2020 Aug 1; 34 (4): 303313303-313.

AbstractThe corona pandemic has led to a number of restrictions and prohibitions, which in turn place large psychosocial or spiritual burdens on patients with COVID-19, their families and relatives and the treating personnel in the healthcare system. Patients with COVID-19 are not allowed to receive visitors and many hospitals and nursing homes have completely banned visitors. Many support services have been reduced or stopped completely. Necessary treatment interventions for other patients with critical and life-limiting diseases have been delayed or suspended in order to free resources for the expected COVID-19 patients; however, these people need to feel social connectedness with their relatives. Palliative care patients should be exempted from any ban on visitors. Families should be able to visit dying patients even on intensive care units or isolation wards, using adequate protective equipment. Alternative options, such as video telephone calls or via social media should be explored for patients in isolation. Families should also be enabled to say goodbye to the deceased with adequate protective equipment or should be offered alternative real or virtual options for remembrance and commemoration. Health care professionals coping with the exceptional stress should be continuously supported. This requires clear communication and leadership structures, communication training, psychosocial support, but most of all optimal framework conditions for the clinical work.

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