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MEMBER'S CORNER
AUSTRIA
VPKA Innovation prize 2019
Vienna Private Clinic wins Visionen Award
Vienna Private Clinic © Wiener Privatklinik
On 9 October the Visions Award of the Austrian Association of Private Hospitals (VPKA) was presented for the third time. Within the framework of the annual VPKA Congress, outstanding forward-looking projects in private clinics are honored. This year's winner is Vienna Private Clinic (Wiener Privatklinik), which was the first clinic in Austria to adapt the innovative concept of "One Minute Training" and has since successfully implemented it. The PremiQaMed private clinics came second with videos on patient safety. 3rd place also went to Wiener Privatklinik, which developed its own training concept for nursing interns.
"Austria's private clinics are thinking towards the future", announced Stefan Günther, General Secretary of VPKA. For the third year in a row, the member clinics were invited to submit progressive and trend-setting projects that were initiated by the various professional groups in the course of their daily work. "Never before have there been so many submissions as this year," said Günther. "We are pleased that our members promote the innovative strength of their employees so strongly. This always benefits the patients in the end."
Vienna Private Clinic wins first prize
Wiener Privatklinik was able to assert itself among the numerous applicants: The concept of "One Minute Training" (originally "One Minute Wonder"), originally developed and validated in England, was adapted and implemented for the first time in Austria under the direction of nursing scientist Karin Klas. It offers effective methods for integrating knowledge transfer in nursing into everyday working life. In a highly condensed form, learning boards convey specialist knowledge that can be read and recorded within a minute. The cards are placed at locations with regularly recurring waiting times, such as in the intensive care unit during a blood gas analysis. The nursing staff can also refresh elementary knowledge, such as emergency handling, without additional effort.
Ilaria Giannico, Secretary General of UEHP and member of the jury, confirmed the selection of the winning project: "The concept of One Minute Training can significantly relieve the resources of the staff! In addition, the treatment and safety of the patients are increased by up-to-date knowledge. I was impressed by the great impact that can be achieved with comparatively little effort. I am convinced that this concept will be imitated in many clinics in the future".
2nd and 3rd place respectively for PremiQaMed Private Clinics and Vienna Private Clinic
Patient safety was the focus of the 2nd place project: Under the motto "Check in and feel safe", Teresa Mang, Service Quality Representative at PremiQaMed Clinics, developed short films for patients based on the safety videos on the airplane. In the videos, the sensitive topic of safety is presented in such a way that the patients feel being in good hands, but not unsecure.
Wiener Privatklinik was also able to score again in 3rd place with a training concept for nursing interns developed by nursing director Gabriele Giehser and nursing scientist Karin Klas. The training concept "nursing interns optimally cared for", not only presents the clinic as an attractive employer, but also conveys a realistic picture of the nursing profession for career starters and is a professional support for interns - a project with future potential in times of lack of nursing staff.
GERMANY
Helios celebrates 25 years of company history
© Helios
It all starts with four clinics in Bad Schwartau, Bochum, Volkach and Bleicherode: In 1994, vascular surgeon Dr. Lutz Helmig founded the Helios Kliniken Group, today Europe's largest private hospital group with 86 acute care hospitals in Germany alone.
For company founder Dr. Helmig, satisfied and well-treated patients have been the basic prerequisite for the success of his company right from the start: "Every single measure must lead to a reduction in the suffering for which the patient visits the hospital," according to his maxim. For Helios, the continuous measurement, improvement and publication of treatment quality will therefore be the linchpin in the acquisition of new clinics and the basis for the company's dynamic development: When Helios is sold to the healthcare group Fresenius in 2005, 24 clinics are already part of the group.
And the company continues to grow - either through the acquisition of individual clinics or entire hospital groups - such as the Damp Kliniken Group in 2012. Finally, Helios will become an established hospital operator in Germany with the acquisition of 41 clinics from Rhön-Klinikum AG in 2014.
The successes of the Helios quality management system are so comprehensive that it forms the basis of the international Quality Medicine Initiative (IQM), which Helios initiated in 2008 and to which all hospitals, regardless of their status, can join. More than 400 clinics from Germany and Switzerland are members of IQM today.
With the acquisition of the Spanish private hospital group Quirónsalud in 2017, Helios begins its involvement in the foreign hospital market. The international holding company Helios Health unites Helios Germany and Quirónsalud under one roof since 2018.
Today, Helios is Europe's leading private hospital operator with a total of around 100,000 employees in Germany and Spain and annual sales of 9 billion euros. Every year, around 19 million people opt for medical treatment at Helios. In Germany, in addition to 86 clinics, 126 medical care centres (MVZs) and 10 prevention centres belong to Helios. Quirónsalud operates 47 clinics, 57 outpatient health centres and around 300 occupational health management facilities.
Many clinic locations celebrated the 25th anniversary of the company's birth over the summer. In very different ways - with sports events, theatre or large parties for employees. "Above all, this birthday is intended to be a celebration for our personnel, without whom the success of our company would not have been possible," says Franzel Simon, Helios Kliniken CEO. "They all deserve our great thanks for helping to shape the success of our company!"
PORTUGAL
Book overview by Oscar Gaspar
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“Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policies but were afraid to ask” is the self-explanatory (ironic and pretentious) title of a book recently published by the World Health Organization and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.
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As is said in the foreword, “There is no European Union health system, but there is an EU health policy” and that health policy has an impact on the health of citizens, the way the systems are organized, and the way health activities are developed. Fully applying the principle of subsidiarity, health policies are fundamentally a national competence.
The book notes that the Lisbon Treaty, in addition to the specific article on public health (168), also includes health as an objective in the articles on environment (191), work and social policy (153, 156) and consumer protection (169). , in addition to Article 9 calling for all EU activity to take into account a “high level of protection of human health”.
This study recalls that, more recently, it has been made clear through the fiscal stability rules that the EU can directly interfere with fiscal policy decisions of Member States. Another noticeable aspect of the recommendations regarding various countries (Austria, Ireland, Malta, Portugal and Slovenia) is the link between aging and sustainability of health systems and long-term care (as well as pension systems). Indeed, the authors criticize the fact that health is often approached as a cost that will increase with aging, as pensions, rather than as an investment in reducing future costs and as a component of long-term social gains. On the other hand, Structural Funds can finance health investments and have done so, including in Portugal.
The study concludes that citizens want more health, but there is no movement to strengthen European competence in the sector. In any case, with the current legal and institutional framework, there is much that the EU can do for the health of Europeans.
Oscar Gaspar, President of the Portuguese Association of Private Hospitals (APHP)
FRANCE
The fluidification of care and health paths:
The new method of service design and design thinking in health
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The quality of care, the efficiency of organizational systems, the attractiveness of health institutions: these are all subjects that are at the heart of the challenges of the health system and the key issues of OZ'IRIS Santé. OZ'IRIS Santé proposes to approach the health pathways through the eyes of those primarily concerned: the patients themselves. This innovative approach is made possible by so-called design thinking and service design methods. The aim is to improve the quality of care.
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OZ'IRIS Santé supports hospitals and clinics in understanding and analyzing patient pathways using methods from the humanities, social sciences and service design. Customer experience has long been talked about in other sectors, OZ'IRIS Santé applies this approach to the patient experience to improve the fluidity of health paths and promote the attractiveness of establishments. Concretely, it involves starting from a detailed analysis of the breaking points encountered by patients in their care or the dysfunctions identified by carers in their work, to model new processes that will improve the quality of health support.
OZ'IRIS Santé therefore uses the Design Thinking and Service Design method, specifically applied to health paths to develop innovative solutions.
Design Thinking: 3 phases
A first phase of immersion allows a qualitative analysis of needs. By collecting numerous testimonies from patients and carers and by observing the internal functioning of the institutions, OZ'IRIS Santé identifies the breaking points in the care processes.
The second step, called ideation, consists in modelling innovative solutions by promoting the consultation of multi-professional teams. "In co-construction with carers and patients, we imagine solutions based on these blocking points: new organizational models, personalized support solutions, digital health monitoring strategies, etc.". To feed this phase of creativity, OZ'IRIS Santé carries out research activities based on career models, remuneration models already proven in other sectors, institutions, countries....
Finally, the prototyping phase consists of testing in real life these new solutions, which will be tested and optimized based on feedback from healthcare professionals and patients. A specification is then drawn up. This is followed by the implementation phase of the process, which requires particular attention to support for the change of health care institutions.
For example, OZ'IRIS Santé is currently working with a nephrology network and is supporting the emergence of new organizational systems focused on patient experience. The two expected outcomes are: the improvement of the quality of care for nephrology patients and the development of the attractiveness of the structure, in particular through the integration of new coordination professions.
OZ'IRIS Santé has also contributed to improving the path of patients in bariatric surgery, by supporting the creation of a digital tool that makes it possible to improve their pre- and post-operative follow-up. This type of project is in line with the increasingly widespread implementation of the fast rehabilitation after surgery.
"Putting oneself in the patient's shoes for each care pathway" is essential to define an optimal organization, respectful of each person's trajectories, within the framework, for example, of an establishment project. The patient is at the heart of the system and the carers organise their care in an orchestrated way. The main objective of this organization is to take into account its well-being.
Tomorrow patient pathways will be "made-to-measure". Care pathways that have been studied ahead allow establishments to use their resources advisedly, to convey a positive image of their organization and to experiment with new and more relevant funding models. In France, for example, models of remuneration per patient journey are already being studied.
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