Public hospitals of the future to focus on patients
EMBARGOED UNTIL 12.00 NOON SUNDAY 31 AUGUST 2003
Making changes to the organisational structures of hospitals will determine the functions and survival of future hospitals, according to an article published in the latest edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.
Today's public hospital system is mainly based around the needs of employees, rather than the needs of the patients receiving treatment, said the author of the article, Professor Jeffrey Zajac from the Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne.
Factors that will shape hospitals of the future include efficient communication and flow of information, maximising use of resources, and reorganising hospital systems.
Comparing hospitals today with those "in the good old days", Professor Zajac wants hospitals of the future to focus again on the needs of patients, which will require a change in the culture and attitudes of staff.
"The patient will be the focus of an efficient communication flow, streamlining patient care in hospital and enhancing communication between hospitals and community-based health providers," said Professor Zajac.
"We now have strong evidence that, despite best intentions, suboptimal care can occur, and patients are at risk of being harmed by system failures.
"There is a significant danger that the needs of patients will be overlooked in the complicated and fast moving public hospital systems of the future."
Professor Zajac suggested that, in reorganising hospital systems, senior hospital doctors will need to embrace change and take on clinical leadership. General and specialty units will need to work more efficiently together, as general physicians increasingly take on the role of patient case managers.
"Hospital executives and health department heads will need to recognise the academic strengths of major teaching hospitals, which train the doctors of the future and devise the therapies of the future, and ensure that these hospitals receive adequate funding.
"Changing doctor-patient relationships, the increase in pressure to move patients through the system, the increasing number of older patients with complex conditions, and issues of safety will all determine the future development of public hospitals".
Professor Zajac concludes that without the successful implementation of these changes, public hospitals will not survive in the future.
The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.
CONTACT: Professor Jeffrey Zajac, University of Melbourne
03 9496 5198 (BH) WEEKEND PHONE CONTACT
Judith Tokley, AMA, 0408 824 306