CHECK Berlin #2

EN
INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN THE AVK - THEN AND NOW
The department of internal medicine with a focus on infection diseases at Vivantes
Auguste-Viktoria-Klinik (AVK) in Schöneberg was for years the largest department in
Europe caring for HIV and AIDS patients. Despite Corona and some personnel-related
changes, the department is still an important place - not just for the community. We spoke
to senior physician Dr. Anja Masuhr.
How long have you been
working in the department?
We have been around since
the 1980s and I started here
as a doctor in my practical
year in the mid 1990s.
I experienced the time
when most still died from
HIV / AIDS before the first
therapy regimes started. I
was still young at the end
of my studies and I was very
impressed. Back then we
were doing a lot of palliative
medicine*. The collaboration
between nursing, doctors,
self-help groups, social
workers and psychologists
was extremely challenging.
But I also saw that I can really
make a difference here,
so I decided to stay.
Were you also affected by
Corona?
Yes! During the high phase
we had 20 COVID-19 positive
patients on the ward. It
was a pretty tough time.
But we had great support
from all other departments.
Everyone who was reasonably
trained in infectiology
came to us. Someone who
helped us very much was Dr.
Stappart, who usually runs
the psychiatric day clinic.
You can certainly imagine
the great fears among the
patients who were tested
positive for COVID. Already
known mental illnesses
increased or severe panic
attacks occurred. Of course,
the staff was also afraid of
getting infected. That was
a big problem. Mr. Stappart
worked for us for almost
eight weeks, visited patients
and talked to relatives, and
did a lot to capture those
big fears.
In total, we had six CO-
VID-19 patients with an
underlying HIV disease. They
had particular fears. Some
of them have been infected
for a very long time, so a
fear of death which they experienced
in the early 1990s
came up again.
How about you? You probably
were not prepared to
face an epidemic again.
It was like a kind of echo
and I also felt very helpless
at times as I did then. Especially
because so much was
unclear as it is now. When
I started working in HIV
medicine, we already knew
the ways of transmission,
so I wasn‘t afraid to become
infected. The helplessness
was rather related to the
fact that we didn‘t have the
appropriate medication and
that the virus overwhelmed
us. This feeling reappeared
during Corona, because we
can only treat the patients
symptomatically.
Does the Corona state
of emergency affect your
usual treatment of HIV
patients?
During the corona high
phase, HIV patients were
moved to the neurology
department so as not to
endanger them. But now we
are treating as usual on the
ward.
There were some personnel
changes in your department
at the beginning of
the year. Those were related
to the opening of a new
infectiology department
in Tempelhof. How did this
affect your work?
It was very difficult at first.
But we now have more
doctors and nurses and we
are a small infectiology family
again. We build on that.
From October 1st we have a
new boss, Dr. Caroline Isner,
who originally comes from
Charité hospital. Our big
advantage here is that we
have many other specialist
departments at the AVK. We
can treat HIV and the complications
that come with
it only in close cooperation
with other departments.
Infectiology can never exist
alone, but is part of a network
and only as good as
the other departments.
We are very coordinated
Aufnahmekoordination/
Beratung
Ariane Hübner
Tel. 030 130 20 8603
werktags 9 –15 Uhr
ariane.huebner@vivantes.de
and that has not been lost.
It is also not bad that there
is now another infectiology
department in Berlin.
Corona showed all of us
that infectiology is a very
important subject and was
perhaps always somewhat
underrepresented.
@
More about the hostory
and services of the
department on
www.check-mag.com
* Palliative medicine: When a disease can no longer be cured,
the relief of pain and other stressful illness complaints as well
as psychological, social and spiritual problems become priority.
Palliative care is aimed not only at patients, but also their relatives.
WECLEANYOU
Hartmut-Spittler-Fachklinik
in Berlin-Schöneberg
Entwöhnung von Alkohol,
illegalen Drogen und Medikamenten
Wir sind rund um die Uhr für Sie da.
Ihr Weg zu uns
Hartmut-Spittler-Fachklinik
am Vivantes
Auguste-Viktoria-Klinikum
Rubensstraße 125 | 12157 Berlin
www.vivantes.de/avk/spittler
medicine
Vivantes Auguste Viktoria
Krankenhaus
Center for Infectious
Diseases and HIV
Rubensstrasse 125
12157 Berlin
Kontakttelefon
Tel. 030 130 20 8600
Für Fragen rund um die Entwöhnung
und Vereinbarung
von Vorgesprächen können
Sie uns auch schreiben an
entwoehnung@vivantes.de
© Innovated Captures - Fotolia.com
76 CHECK | AUSGABE 2 CHECK | AUSGABE 2 77