[Treatment of the wounded from the war in Ukraine in the trauma networks of the DGU-Requirement, reality and motivation over the course of 18 months…].

Background: The war in Ukraine and the medical treatment of the wounded in hospitals in Germany has now represented a challenge for more than 15 months. The majority of trauma patients were distributed via the general holding center (GMLZ) at the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) by the cloverleaf concept and the trauma networks. Initially, numerous offers of assistance were promoted with great solidarity. For documentation of the current motivation situation and also for identification of the potential for improvement, a 2-stage survey of senior physicians in the organized and certified hospitals in the trauma networks was carried out.

Material and Methods: An online survey of senior physicians of the trauma network hospitals was carried out with a semistructured written questionnaire in December 2022 and a follow-up survey during the Trauma Network Meeting (TNT) Congress in September 2023 in Frankfurt.

Results: Of the questionnaires 113 could be evaluated in December 2022 and 70 completed questionnaires in September 2023. The answers came from national trauma centers (ÜTZ), regional trauma centers (RTZ) and local trauma centers (LTZ) each with approximately one third. On average 2.7 patients were treated in all participating hospitals up to December and up to September no more than 5 in more than half of the hospitals overall. The main challenges for all participants at both points in time were the long hospital stay, the demanding pathogen status and sometimes unclarified or not completely covered reimbursement of costs. Nevertheless, more than 80% of the specialist departments received backing from their hospital sponsors as well as their personnel for the continuing treatment of the wounded from Ukraine.

Conclusion: The medical and professional challenges in the treatment of the wounded from Ukraine are, as expected, characterized by the demanding injury patterns of the musculoskeletal system and the colonization with multidrug-resistant pathogens. This results in a long course of treatment, where the remuneration does not always cover the costs. Despite these challenges the solidarity in the hospitals of the trauma networks is unbroken. Simultaneously, there are numerous possibilities for improvement in order to enhance the prerequisites for future comparable humanitarian assistance jointly with politics.

(© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)