HealthManagement, Volume 10, Issue 2 /2008
France
«CHU, Hôpital de Tous Les Défis» (University
hospital, facing all challenges )
In 2008, all French university hospitals will celebrate their fifty years of existence. Medical reforms by Robert Debré and the crea tion of university hospitals in 1958 have given a major impulse to the modernisation of French medicine and medical research.
Reference hospitals, regional hospitals, they are also local focal points which are open to their environment. The 29 university hospitals take up more than a third of all hospital activities. Every year, they account for 3,000,000 ER visits. Almost 4 million French citizens are admitted in one of them, and 12 millions are outpatients. They train around 30,000 doctors and regularly invest in clinical research and innovation.
The association of university hospitals’ general managers, of chairmen of medical committees and medical school deans (Conférence des directeurs généraux des CHU, des présidents de CME et des Doyens de facultés de médecine) have decided to publish a reference book on the occasion of the anniversary of university hospitals: «Le CHU, l’hôpital de tous les défis», published by Privat, for sale in all bookshops.
University hospitals have asked more than 40 experts of university health establishments to relate their experiences around three missions which became indissociable: care, teaching and research. They put forth the numerous and varied contributions university hospitals made to modern society: they create wealth, they enable knowledge sharing, they guarantee solidarity. They show that university hospitals are able to take up the challenges they are facing in the third millennium.
As biography of one of the noblest French institutions, this book also recounts the major phases of the creation of university hospitals and lists more than seventy world firsts carried out by university hospitals teams.
Germany/The Netherlands
Internet portal to fight MRSA
A new information system on the Internet should support Germany and the Netherlands in their crossborder fight against antibiotics resistant hospital germs.
The information system set up within the «MRSA-net» EUREGIO project should improve the understanding of the necessary hospital hygiene measures and give MRSA related recommendations outside the hospital.
Luxemburg
Active Euthanasia Legalised
After the Netherlands (2001) and Belgium (2002), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the third country in the world to have passed an active euthanasia law with a large majority.
The law was adopted on 19 February by 30 representatives who voted in favour, 26 again, and three abstentions. The law guarantees doctors immunity, if they perform active euthanasia or assistance to suicide. The condition is that a patient who is either incurable or in extreme pain has expressed, in writing, a deliberate will to end his/her life. Doctors are obliged to hold repeated and in-depth conversations with their patients about that
decision and to include another doctor for advice.
According to the legislation, all euthanasia cases should be examined by a reviewing commission. The constitutionality of the law must still be looked into by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s State Council, before it can enter into force.
Another piece of legislation foresees the development of palliative care, covered by health insurance funds.
Hungary
Hungarian Parliament Approves New
Health Legislation
On 12 December 2007, the Hungarian Parliament adopted a controversial law on the partial privatisation of health insurance.
The new legislation, introduced under Minister President Ferenc Gyurcsany, foresees that in addition to state health insurance, 22 pri vate insurances will be set up with a majority participation of the State. This measure is part of a savings package, which was con ceived last year by the government.
The Netherlands
Hospital Bans on Mobiles Must Stay
Evidence that mobile phones can interfere with vital intensive care equipment has been strengthened. More than half the hospital ventilators tested by Dutch researchers stopped working properly when a mobile was switched on nearby. Critical care monitors were also vulnerable, with seven out of thirteen disrupted by mobile signals, while three out of seven syringe pumps were affected.
«3G» mobiles were less likely to cause problems compared with second generation mobiles, and while, on average, the mobile had to be only a few centimetres away to interfere with the device, one «hazardous» incident happened at a distance of three metres.
The British Medical Association has maintained that there is no significant evidence linking mobiles to problems with medical devices, and said that patients would benefit from doctors being able to communicate better with colleagues while on the wards.
