Transformation-oriented leadership in German hospitals: beneficial attributes and competencies

Introduction

Due to a shortage of health professionals and economic pressure, many German hospitals are required to transform the clinical work environment to increase job satisfaction, but also to attract and retain health professionals. Leadership is a key factor for the successful implementation of organization-wide change. The aim of this study was to identify the attributes and competencies among leaders that are beneficial for implementing and managing hospital-wide transformations.

Methods

A qualitative study design. In 2020, 18 face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with chief nursing officers, ward managers, nurses and physicians in five German hospitals which have started implementing a hospital-wide transformation (e.g. Magnet® or Pathway®). Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed in Atlas.ti using the content analysis method according to Mayring.

Results

Results show five beneficial leadership elements to instigate and steer hospital-wide transformation: (1) Charismatic leaders are role models and idealists with well-communicated visions that are grounded in clinical practice and reflect the clinical practitioners. (2) Mentally strong leaders have courage, stamina, and are resilient. (3) Empowering leaders are highly supportive and increase the intrinsic motivation of employees. (4) Imparting interprofessional appreciation refers to leaders who cultivate a respectful relationship with persons from other professional groups and recognize their daily performance. (5) Agile leaders are well and quickly accessible for employees and respond situationally to changing demands in everyday work.

Conclusions

Interviewees described characteristics of hospital leaders as success factors for establishing and maintaining continuous change processes. Charismatic and supportive leaders are critical to transform the hospitals’ culture and values. In addition, equitable interprofessional collaboration is of utmost importance.

Key messages

• Charismatic, agile, empowering leaders can have a positive impact on system-wide change processes.

• The successful transformation of hospitals’ work environment needs interprofessional appreciation and the mutual acknowledgement of competences.

Implementation strategies to integrate academically qualified nurses in German innovator hospitals

Background

In Germany, the number of Bachelor and Master programs for nurses has increased significantly over the past 20 years but the recommended target of 10%-20% of academically qualified nurses has not yet been reached. In university hospitals, it was 3% in 2018. Major challenges for hospital managers are to attract and retain academically qualified nurses in clinical practice, with some hospitals doing better than others.

Methods

In 2020, semi-structured interviews (n = 18) were conducted with chief nursing officers, nurse managers, nurses, and physicians working in five innovator hospitals, characterised by a high willingness to change the work environment, improve quality of care, and increase the number of academically qualified nurses. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed using Atlas.ti. Mayring's qualitative content analysis method was applied.

Results

Recruiting, retaining, and integrating academically qualified nurses varied in the five hospitals studied but all provided time and/or financial support for nursing students. Those with a longer tradition of attracting academically qualified nurses were following a hospital-wide strategy. CNOs or other leaders motivated nurses to enrol in a degree program, provided close support for clinical projects (e.g., on the ward) and when starting a career (e.g., coaching), and fostered individual career planning. Specialised tasks for nurses with a master's degree were leadership roles or specialised patient care. Taking over additional clinical or scientific activities according to their qualification was seen as beneficial to integrate the nurses. Barriers were the limited acceptance of graduated nurses by nurses with a vocational training, low staffing levels, and limited political support.

Conclusions

Recruiting and retaining graduated nurses takes efforts by hospitals in the current situation of a nation-wide nursing shortage. A hospital-wide approach can be a way to overcome this challenge.

Speakers/Panelist

Inge Rinzema

V&VN VS, Dutch Association of Nurse Practitioners, Utrecht, Netherlands

Johanna Heikkilä

JAMK University, Jyväskylä, Finland

Sabine Valenta

Department of Nursing Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Are persons with a limited health literacy less satisfied with the German health care system?

Background

Health literacy (HL) is the ability to find, understand, appraise and apply health information with the aim of using this information to make decisions affecting the own health. Previous studies showed limited HL in around 50% of the German population. The assessment of the German health care system from the perspective of persons with limited HL is subject of this study.

Methods

In 2018, a survey was conducted among 20,000 persons with private health insurance in Germany. Survey items were based on the intermediate and final goals of the WHO Health Systems Framework. Questions comprised, for example, satisfaction with the health care system, responsiveness (e.g. perceived discrimination), access (e.g. off-hour care), and safety (e.g. medical errors). HL was assessed with the HLS-EU-Q16 questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were used to analyze the data and group differences.

Results

Overall, 3,601 participants (18.0%) completed the survey (58.6 years ± 14.6; 64.6% male). Limited HL was seen with 44.6% (8.5% inadequate & 36.1% problematic), whereas 55.4% did not report limited HL (43.4% sufficient & 12.0% excellent). Very satisfied with the German health care system were 6.5% of the persons with limited HL (vs. 14.3%). Perceived discrimination within the last 12 months was reported by 11.0% of the persons with limited HL (vs. 5.1%). To get medical care on weekends, holidays or evenings outside hospitals was rated as “very hard” by 34.6% of the persons with limited HL (vs. 23.6%). The feeling that they experienced medical errors was reported by 18.7% with limited HL (vs. 11.5%) and 5.9% were unsure (vs. 2.2%). All results were statistically significant (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Persons with limited HL were less satisfied with the overall German health care system in comparison to persons with not limited HL and reported more often perceived discrimination. Strengthening HL could help to improve satisfaction with the health care system.

Key messages

Limited HL among persons with private health insurance in Germany was found in 44.6% of the survey’s participants. Persons with limited HL indicated to be less satisfied with the German health care system and perceived more often discrimination in their health care.

Financial risk protection of individuals with private health insurance

Background

Financial Protection is a key dimension of universal health coverage and health system performance assessment and is also monitored within the framework of the sustainable development goals. Analyses of financial hardship among people who have out-of-pocket (OOP) spending through the use of health services in Germany usually focus solely on households with statutory health insurance due to the peculiarities of private health insurance (PHI) data. This study aims to analyse financial protection among privately insured in Germany.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2018 with 20,000 privately insured in Germany. The survey comprised questions on household net-income, OOP spending on health, unmet needs, perceived financial burden). Catastrophic expenditure was analysed and defined as share of households with OOP spending greater than 10% of household income. Further results on financial protection and access are based on descriptive analyses.

Results

A total of 3,601 participants (18.0%) completed the survey (58.6 years ± 14.6; 64.6% male). 82.2% of households reported OOP spending, mostly on OTC drugs, deductibles and medical aids. Median OOP spending was €300-499 per year. Average OOP spending as share of household income was 1.3% and 0.6% of households have catastrophic OOP spending. In total, 6.6% of respondents reported unmet needs due to financial barriers, of which 5.3% had no OOP spending. 11.2% of all respondents reported to feel strongly financially burdened by OOP spending with a gap between the lowest (26.2%) and highest income group (9.9%).

Conclusions

PHI insured have comparatively low OOP spending with less than 1% of households having catastrophic expenditures on health. However, 6.2% of respondents reported to forgo care due to financial reasons which supports the assumption that OOP payments can create a barrier to access. Unmet needs and financial burden are higher in lower income groups which raises concerns about equity.

Key messages

Financial protection is good among privately insured in Germany with only few households reporting catastrophic expenditures which indicates a broad and sufficient benefit coverage under PHI. Although out-of-pocket spending is low, privately insured perceive a strong financial burden (particularly in lower income groups) and face financial barriers to access care mirrored in forgone care.

Health system performance assessment from the private health insured persons’ perspective in Germany

Background

About 11% of the German population has full private health insurance (PHI) and mainly consists of self-employed persons, civil servants or persons with an income above a certain threshold (in 2020: 62,550 €/year) who choose to opt out from statutory health insurance. It can be assumed that these persons represent a distinct population group in Germany. Therefore, the assessment of the German health system performance from the perspective of persons with PHI was subject to this research (project IPHA “Integrating the Population Perspective in Health System Performance Assessment”).

Methods

A paper/online survey was conducted in 2018 among 20,000 persons with PHI in Germany. The items for this survey were based on the intermediate (access, coverage, quality and safety) and final goals (improved health, responsiveness, improved efficiency, and social and financial risk protection) of the WHO Health Systems Framework.

Results

The survey was completed by 3,601 participants (18.0%). Participants (age 58.6 years ± 14.6; 64.6% male) assessed the German health system very differently, exemplarily shown for the intermediate goal “access” and final goal “responsiveness”: Whereas access to off-hour care was perceived as difficult by 54.1% of the respondents, 6.7% of the respondents reported unmet needs within the last 12 months due to waiting times. 51,5% of these persons with unmet needs due to waiting times were still (very) satisfied with the overall waiting time for physicians' appointments. 73,6% of persons with unmet needs who perceived discrimination in their care reported waiting times as the area of discrimination (vs. 53,4% of all participants who perceived discrimination).

Conclusions

Privately insured persons in Germany perceived the performance of the health system very differently and also partially inconsistent. Further analyses will complete the picture of the persons with PHI's perspective in health system performance assessment.

Key messages

Persons with private health insurance perceive the performance of the German health care system very differently and also partially inconsistent. Despite unmet needs due to waiting time in 6.7% of the respondents, 51,5% of these persons were still (very) satisfied with waiting times.

Measuring efficiency of the German health care system from the population perspective

Background

Human and financial resources in health care systems are limited and require efficient use. Efficiency is one of the final goals of the WHO Health Systems Framework but measuring efficiency and finding room for improvement is complex; a rarely used approach is the assessment from the population perspective. This study aims to analyse, if inefficiencies in the German health care system are present and can be identified by the population.

Methods

In 2018, a survey was conducted with a random sample of 20,000 insured persons of a German private health insurance (PHI) company. Three aspects of efficiency were operationalized in the questionnaire: self-reported duplicate tests, prescription of unnecessary health services, and adequacy of insurance premiums. Results are based on descriptive analyses.

Results

In total, 3,601 respondents (age 58.9 ± 14.5; 64.9% male) were included (18.0%) in the analyses. Efficiency was rated as follows: 20% of respondents experienced duplicate tests due to a lack of coordination between physicians. This rate was even higher (38%) among those who perceived (very) poor/fair coordination. Unnecessary services (self-assessed) were prescribed to 22% of all respondents and was 50% among patients who experienced that physicians' consultations and treatments were led by motives other than the patients' wellbeing. A total of 33% rated their premiums as (too) high, 63% as fair and 4% as (very) low with differences according to income, sex and health status.

Conclusions

From a population perspective, the German health care system has the potential to be more efficient e.g. by reducing duplicate tests. Patients with PHI experience unnecessary services and duplicate tests, which put a strain on both, the already limited financial and personnel resources on a macro level, and the level of the individual PHI premium.

Key messages

Patients perceived tests or services as unnecessary, and hence, can detect inefficiencies of a health care system. Efficiency can be improved e.g. by a better coordination of care between health care providers.

A 163-bp deletion in the neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2) gene associated with variant phenotypes [corrected]

We have analyzed cDNA from a 46-year-old atypical neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) patient who had lumbar tumors, cataract and schwannomas of peripheral nerves but no vestibular schwannomas, and have identified a 163-bp deletion in the NF2 transcript. The deletion is predicted to remove 54, alter 15 and add four extra amino acids at the C-terminus of the NF2-gene product. The same deletion was found in her two daughters and in a 3-year-old grandson. Bilateral vestibular schwannomas were detected in the two asymptomatic daughters, whereas no abnormality was found in the grandson.

Glioma biology in vitro: goals and concepts

Gliomas are heterogeneous in their cellular composition, affecting therapeutic efforts such as surgical removal, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. 106 gliomas were taken into culture in our laboratory and 12 cell lines could be established there from. Experiments were carried out in as many early cultures as possible and with the constant experimental system of the cell lines. To subdivide and possibly classify the heterogeneous group of gliomas the following approaches emerged: Immunostaining of cells for glial markers such as GFAP, A4, A2B5, Leu 7 as well as fibronectin will allow one to distinguish different groups of glial cultures. Performance of growth factor sensitivity tests allows the assessment of major aspects of growth control in cultured gliomas. Cytogenetic evaluation in early cultures and correlation with the expression of oncogenes may yield useful information on mechanisms of escape from normal growth control. One of our cell lines (NCE-G28) in which cells switch from GFAP to fibronectin expression and transiently express the x-hapten may serve as a model to study crucial aspects of cellular differentiation. Using different extracellular matrices for the initiation of cultures even from very benign lesions with low proliferative potential it is possible to include these into comparative studies with glioblastomas.