Europe`s healthcare sector faces strained labour relations
Current staff crises are leading Europe`s hospitals to show strong interest in talent management, according to human resources management software provider unmantis.
Staff management
World’s first Curve Image Guided Surgery system now operating in Germany
This week, university hospital Klinikum rechts der Isar in Munich, Germany, is the first hospital in the world to operating Brainlab’s Curve Image Guided Surgery system. Curve is Brainlab’s latest generation of image-guided surgery systems. The new technology provides surgeons with better guidance and control during surgery enabling faster, more precise and safer interventions.
Of mounting importance
They are rarely noticed but nevertheless they carry a lot of weight in a hospital: intelligent mounting solutions for medical equipment and monitors. While the eyes of physicians, nurses and patients alike tend to be fixed on the device, hardly anybody ever looks at the way, the device is fixed to the wall or the ceiling. The engineers of CIM med, based in Munich, Germany, however did have a…
EHFG 2011 - ‘There are too many unnecessary operations!’
Participants at European Health Forum Gastein 2011 (EHFG) agreed: the tendency in Germany and Austria is to operate far too soon (particularly for hip, knee and disc surgery), and many surgical interventions are unnecessary, posing a particular and increasingly urgent problem especially in industrialised countries. Hans-Christian Pruszinsky reports
The role of hospital management consultants
‘Public hospitals are not yet acknowledging the necessity of engaging management consultants in the same way as private institutions. Management and organisational consultancy is particularly important in hospitals as it is not just undertaken for the benefit of staff but also the benefit of the patients’’ explains Verena Krassnitzer, Vienna-based management consultant and supervisor,…
Diverse views, similar aims
The 1st European Hospital Conference (EHC) will see three important organisations face up to their differences in what promises to be a great debate: During our interview with Dr João de Deus, President of the European Association of Senior Hospital Physicians (AEMH), he pointed out that AEMH, the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE) and the European Association of Hospital…
RESPONSE trial results
Studies show that when a nurse follows patients after a cardiovascular crisis those patients stay healthier, live longer and reduce the risk of returning to hospital. Now the challenge is how to convince insurers to pay for this care, reports John Brosky.
The best hospitals are run by physicians
Top-performing hospitals are typically ones headed by a medical doctor rather than a manager. That is the finding from a new study of what makes a good hospital. The research, to be published in the elite journal Social Science and Medicine, is the first of its kind. Its conclusions run counter to a modern trend across the western world to put generally trained managers -- not those with a…
Identifying risk, averting risk
The introduction of comprehensive risk management to a hospital is challenging. Although initiating quality and safety processes is often easy, the structural changes in a microcosmic hospital are harder to crack. However, successfully integrated risk management can represent a decisive, competitive advantage in the healthcare market. By Karoline Laarmann
Nurses need annual physical and psychological fitness tests
England – ‘Wheelchairs receive better care than nurses’; they need annual physical and psychological tests to ensure they can cope with job demands. The subject, discussed this April during the Annual Congress of the Royal College of Nursing, followed the publication (11/2010) of the Government’s NHS Health and Wellbeing Report (pub: 11/10).
ECR 2011 - Cutting to the chase and priming radiologists to become clinicians
A major gathering of medical specialists presents not only a perfect time to summarise the status-quo but also to assess the role of the specialty in the future. This year’s European Society of Radiology Congress aims to reach far into radiological horizons by launching attendees into a radiological setting in the year 2025. ECR 2011 will also enter the 5th dimension of CT.
When The Doctor is a Woman Patients Expect Being Involved in Decision Making
A study conducted at the University of Granada reveals that patients have greater expectations of their family doctor listening actively to them, keeping them informed and considering their opinions than in getting involved in decision making. For the purpose of this study, researchers took a sample of 360 patients aged 16-47 years, assisted at the Health Center Gran Capitán in Granada.
The importance of medical teamwork
In 1935, following the spectacular crash of the much-heralded Boeing B-17 bomber, it was concluded that the ‘modern plane was too much for one man to fly’. Similarly, given the complexity of modern healthcare, medicine is rarely a solo pursuit. In 1977, following the largest commercial aviation crash to date, flight investigators concluded the crew had ‘failed to take the time to become a…
Steps to cope with ‘turf war’
Turfing is a subversive activity based on a variety of economic and prestigious interests. It is opposed to the trend in modern medicine towards harmonisation, ordinate formation and QA processes. Usually, ‘highjacked’ services are characterised by uncontrolled training processes, the absence of an official syllabus, no board exams, a lack of formal (registered) practice supervision and…
Radiologists are turning into diagnosticians
Rapid advances in medicine and technology have led to a change in the job description for radiologists. With image acquisition and evaluation increasingly carried out by machines, there is a need to find new fields of activity. However, the required rethink is happening far slower than the pace of development in science and technology, believes radiologist and healthcare management expert…
The challenges to radiology caused by turf battles
There are several reasons why turf battles for imaging occur: 1) Medical imaging has become essential for the diagnosis, treatment planning and patient follow-up. 2) Interventional radiology provides efficient procedures that are a credible alternative to surgery, challenging the surgeons who want to survive. 3) Radiologists are currently facing an explosion of the demands and, paradoxically at…
Improving the radiologist’s standing among peers from other disciplines
The first question we should ask is whether we only lack radiologists or whether we lack medical doctors in general. If the answer is that we do not have enough specialists covering diagnostic imaging and image interpretation specialties then the question needs to be further analysed on why we cannot attract more people to take that exciting and rewarding route after completing their primary…
Educate patients about the radiologist’s role in their treatment
'What can we do about the lack of young radiologists in Europe?’ ECR 2010 congress president Professor Małgorzata Szczerbo-Trojanowska will discuss the background to this shortage and suggest ways to avert this occupational crisis, although pointing out that the problem does not exist in Poland.
Improving the job’s attractions to enhance recruitment
‘The demand for radiology procedures, even on a 24/7/365 basis, seems to increase faster than the number of new radiologists. The shortage of radiologists creates a service provider gap. Further, quality, safety, education, and research become threatened,’ says Professor Jarl A Jakobsen MD PhD MHA, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital.
Concerns: What can be done about the lack of young radiologists in Europe?
Radiologists play a main part in the majority of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. For this reason a staff shortage in radiology departments severely compromises the quality of clinical processes. However, the shortage is not evident in absolute terms, because the number of radiologists is increasing in most European countries.
How do you teach professionalism in pharmacy?
Students and teaching staff expressed difficulty in defining professionalism in pharmacy clearly and succintly. For most it seems to more an implicit than explicit concept, ie "you know it when you see it" according to a study undertaken in UK schools of pharmacy.
Unique rooms at Münster Training Hospital
At first glance everything looks real, from the equipment and fittings to gleaming white bed sheets and the pallor of the patient. But something is incongruous: a large mirror opposite the bed is reminiscent of a police interview room. It is the sole suggestion that this hospital room may be unusual. It is. Behind the mirrored glass, medical students indiand a tutor are observing a ‘doctor’…
By 2020 Europe may be short of two million healthcare workers
Today, healthcare professions make up ten percent Europe’s workforce. The EU Commission calculates dramatic shortages in healthcare provision in the next decade unless countermeasures are taken now. Thus, at this year’s European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), held in October in Bad Hofgastein, Austria, international experts discussed ways to make health employment more attractive.
French biologists resist invasion by legions of labs
Facing the risk of an invasion by big international operations, French medical laboratories drew inspiration for their defence from a national hero - Asterix. While the newly launched reform of the French laboratory system will bring the traditionally independent medical labs into conformance with international quality standards, the law builds an elaborate defence against foreign operators to…
Possible shortage of up to two million health care workers by 2020
Health as a job creator: Health professions make up one of the largest segments in the overall European labor market, accounting for ten percent of the total workforce. The EU Commission calculates dramatic shortages in health care provision in the next decade unless countermeasures are taken now. Experts at the European Health Forum Gastein discussed how health jobs can be made more attractive.
