Table 1 Outcome parameters assessed in the web-based questionnaire

Intensive care bed capacity

Items covered occurrence of bed closures due to staff shortages before the pandemic (Jan./Feb. 2020), activation of intensive care beds in existing ICUs considered as non-operational as of February 2020, preparation of new ICUs by upgrading recovery rooms and operating rooms as well as outside the hospital.

Hospitals who answered the questions on preparing new ICUs with “Yes” were asked to provide more detailed information for each on number of beds prepared, maximum number of beds occupied and duration (in days) of bed occupancy.

Personnel situation in intensive care medicine

Hospitals were asked to provide information for different health care professional groups on the following items: total number of full-time positions (FTP) allocated to critical care in your hospital BEFORE the pandemic, number of vacancies in critical care medicine in your hospital BEFORE the pandemic, number of positions regularly filled with temporary workers in your hospital BEFORE the pandemic, additional staffing requirements (in FTP) that had arisen in your hospital in critical care medicine in the context of the pandemic, number of additional positions that were actually filled at your hospital during the pandemic.

Furthermore, they were asked to indicate whether changes of the nurse-to-patient ratio (patients per nurse) or the nursing-skill-mix (ratio of specialists to assistants) of the staff in intensive care medicine had occurred in their hospital. Hospitals who answered with “Yes” were asked to specify this in more detail on the basis of type and scope as well as duration.

Staff recruitment and evaluation of recruitment measures

Instruments to cover the staffing needs during the pandemic, types of reallocation/shifting of personnel, strategies and instruments used in the context of recruiting new employees were assessed by using multiple-choice questions.

Hospitals were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment measures in the context of the pandemic in a matrix format, in which several strategies were listed. Ratings were carried out on a 5-point-Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not effective at all) to 5 (very effective). Additionally, the answer categories “Type of recruitment did not take place” and “No information possible” were offered for selection for each item.

Hospitals were also asked to report on the use of special incentives and whether it has been possible to attract new employees on a permanent basis as a result of the recruiting measures (by indicating the numbers for different health care professional groups).

Reallocation/shifting of personnel

In this section, the hospitals were asked to indicate which medical and nursing staff were shifted to intensive care. If the questions about staff from specific departments or with specific qualifications were answered with “Yes”, more detailed information was requested in each case about the maximum number of full-time positions and staff as well as the length of the assignment.