Rhine Experience 2009

Comparative Insights into Health Care Management - Germany and the US

Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Schenkel Häger, management director of Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Bonn gGmbH, welcomed the students of this year's Maymester Program and students from Remagen and Rheinbach to the hospital. In an introductory session, presentations and discussions were used in order to highlight the characteristics of both national health care systems and some of the challenges they are facing right now. Afterwards, students were given tours of various sections of St.-Elisabeth-Krankenhaus and Petruskrankenhaus, two of the hospitals which are part of Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Bonn gGmbH.

Group 1: Focus on Gastroenterology (Prof. Dr. med. Franz Ludwig Dumoulin)
Group 2: Focus on Radiology (Dr. med. Ulrich Hofer)
Group 3: Quality Management (Prof. Dr. med. Christoph Schenkel-Häger)

Thus, the students were encouraged to get a better understanding of the tasks and the framework conditions of German hospitals within their national health care system; important ongoing developments (e.g. concerning demographic change, service quality and risk management) prompted a lively exchange of questions and observations.

This module was part of an intensive study program for Part I of the International Summer School Program organised by Coastal Carolina University, HS Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and RheinAhrCampus Remagen.