The 2008 BDU Company Award
The BDU (German Association of Management Consulting Firms) has presented annual business awards for outstanding achievements, one to German companies and one to German managers, since 1994.
Staff management
Advanced management solutions
KMS Vertrieb und Services GmbH, which has offered healthcare knowledge management and consulting services for over ten years, is presenting advanced solutions and products:
Hospital staff don't care for influenza vaccination — for themselves
Injections, that's everyday business for the men and women working in healthcare. As long as it is the patients who have to face the needle, it seems. Like in the years before Dr Heinzpeter Moecke, medical director of Asklepios Klinik Nord-Heidberg in Hamburg, Germany, set an example for his staff and had a vaccination.
New e-learning tool for NHS employees
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) from UK installed a new educational programm on the internet called eHealth. The courses are free of charge for employees from the National Health Service (NHS) and shall improve the health community's ability to respond effectively to major incidents and emergencies.
Are nurses the better GPs in primary care?
"Should nurses replace GPs as frontline providers of primary care?" This question was discussed controversy by Bonnie Sibbald, Professor of Health Service Research, University of Manchester, (pro) and Rhona Knight, portfolio GP, Leicester, (contra) who alleged their reasons on the British Medical Journal website
Neurologists — an endangered species?
Irish and German neurology associations warn of an imminent shortage of neurologists. In Ireland, according to experts the situation is “lacking at best” and “catastrophic at worst”. German physicians as well detect increasing deficiencies in neurological care coverage primarily due to an aging population and concomitant morbidity.
Better care saves hospitals money
Researchers from the Center to Advance Palliative Care and from the National Palliative Care Research Center, New York, found out that US-hospitals can save more than $300 per day and patient receiving palliative care while even enhancing the quality of care. Palliative care programs provide a way for hospitals to meet the needs of these patients while staying financially viable.
Muslims and healthcare in the United Kingdom
Britain is a primarily Christian country. It is also home to people with various religious beliefs who have migrated here from many parts of the world, or are British born. In a 2001 census, 72% of the population identified itself as Christian.
PACS: Netcentric clinic services based on JiveX product line
Hospitals must digitally keep medical documents audit proof, which involves a lot of material and personnel efforts.
Leadership tools for healthcare managers
But how is this best achieved? Although various authors suggest methods to attain effective leadership, their approaches are not always uniform. Here he reviews some of the literature and authors' advice.
UK Polyclinic proposals meet opposition
The relationship between England's GPs and hospitals is currently at a sensitive stage, with a review of health services across the country set to impact on the way the two groups work and liaise with one another.
The source of medication errors
US- researchers found that inpatients experience an average of nearly one and a half potentially harmful errors in their medication record during a hospital stay. They started the search for the causes: admission and discharging are the most dangerous situations.
Better protection for nurses! - A global call to action
Provision of standard infectious disease precautions and safe workplaces for nurses all around the world are the main claims of a statement shaped during the International AIDS Conference by Physicians for Human Rights and the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.
Professional accountablity of nurses
A recent case from Eardisland, Herefordshire, demonstrates the impact of institutions like the Nursing & Midwifery Council in the UK that considers allegations of misconduct of nurses. A nurse was given a three-year caution for not adhering to the Council's professional code of conduct which led to serious consequences for the patient.
Your senior doctor is watching you
Hiding behind a doctor's licence obtained years ago will no longer be tolerated in England. Senior doctors are asked to function as "responsible officers" who collect information about colleagues over a period of time. The new arrangement intends to examine the fitness of physicians every five years.
"Qualifying" is an urgent need in health biz
Michael Schumacher once won nearly every qualifying in Formula One. But Germany won't win the world championship in qualification of their healthcare workers, neither, however, would most European countries. The lack of well-trained employees in healthcare may turn out to be a major setback for the booming branch.
Nurses spend 1.6 million hours weekly on form filling
UK — A plea to hire more 'ward clerks' to free hospital nurses from excessive bureaucracy has been made by the Royal College of Nursing to the government and change NHS targets so as to place more emphasis on patient satisfaction and hygiene standards.
Smile please, nurse!
Following a 6-month inquiry in 2007 on how to improve the National Health Service (NHS) (and patients' organisations urging action over an apparent decline in nursing care since the domination of the hospital matron was curtailed) one of the proposals put in a Downing Street Cabinet meeting was that doctors and nurses should smile more.
Be prepared for the pandemic flu
The next pandemia will come - rather sooner than later. The respiratory protection of frontline staff is a major part of healthcare facilities' preparation. To assist hospitals, ECRI Institute and the International Association of Healthcare Safety and Security present the web conference "Respiratory Protection: Preparing for Pandemic Flu" on July 17, 2008.
Re-inventing the hospital
Over the past few years, hospitals in Germany have been faced with ever new challenges. However, the solutions offered so far are not sufficient. On the contrary - rather than solving problems, they tend to create new ones. A change of paradigm in the organisation of hospitals is imminent and hospitals have to change radically, argues Holger Richter
Apply Proven Ideas from Industry to Hospital Management, Recommends Siemens Healthcare Executive.
“P to the power of 3” was the formula that Siemens used to make the global corporation profitable and competitive again after a troublesome period in the 1990's. Britta Fünfstück, head of business development/strategy at Siemens Healthcare, told attendees at the Hospital Management Symposium that this formula represents a commitment to People working in a high performance culture, Process,…
Building a New Hospital in Spain on Schedule and within Budget
Luis Barcia Albacar, Director General of Torrevieja Salud UTE Hospital in Torrevieja, Spain, shared his experience of building a new hospital within budget and opening on schedule in October 2006 with all services operational. Located on the east coast of Spain, the 220-bed hospital was built to accommodate a full-time population of 213,000, but also needed to be able to service the surge of…
The Hospital Management Symposium at ECR 2008
For the fifth time now, EUROPEAN HOSPITAL organises the Hosptial Manager Symposium in cooperation with the ECR. This years´event again provides expert advices on management, IT and finance.
Europe's brain drain
Biotechnologist Dr Jens Meiler explains his reasons for emigration to America
Medical management in the Russian healthcare system
Healthcare in Russia is currently undergoing a comprehensive reform process. In the early 1990s, a new source of funding for the public health system was established: mandatory medical insurance and general practitioners' offices as well as private medical practice.