Jakość - Normalizacja - Certyfikacja
Dodatek lobbingowy do RZECZPOSPOLITEJ.
9 listopada 2007 r.

po polsku

A distinguished participant in the Polish Quality Award contest

A hospital of the 21st century

An interview with Mieczysław Pasowicz MD, PHD, the director of the John Paul II Hospital in Krakow

The John Paul II Hospital in Krakow is considered to be one of the best hospitals in Małopolska and in Poland. What contributed to this high opinion, considering the fact that plenty of other health care institutions are dealing with tremendous financial, staff, and quality problems?

Building a strong brand is certainly a long-term process. It requires a continuity of management. I have been in charge of the hospital for 16 years. The hospital's employees and I have been striving to develop a market approach to running the hospital. Every year we conduct patient satisfaction surveys and respond to the needs of the market. For many years we have been cooperating with leading medical centers in Europe and worldwide, we are implementing the benchmarking method, and we apply those operating models that are the most effective in our circumstances. It does not mean that the hospital has no problems but we find it essential to make use of all our capacities. Consequently, we achieve good results but we also see the necessity of structural reforms in the health care system.

Your hospital has been awarded and distinguished on multiple occasions. Most recently, your hospital was distinguished in the 13th edition of the Polish Quality Award contest. Was your hospital distinguished for overall achievements or for a specific activity?

There were many assessment criteria and they related to all scopes of the hospital's operations. Our goal in participating in the contest was to undergo an impartial assessment by an external body. What was essential to us was the expert report which listed both the hospital’s strengths and the areas that required improvement. Dealing with our weaknesses will be our new challenge. In the experts’ opinion, our advantages include attention to our image, propagation of the hospital’s mission and vision, skillful raising of financial resources needed for the hospital's development, active cooperation with outside partners, and our ability to properly use information technologies in management processes.

You mentioned raising financial resources for development. What is your vision of the hospital’s development?

We would like to make the best use of both the financial outlays of the local government of the province and the European Union funds to implement two large projects: "Development of the Krakow Research and Medical Technology Center" and "Integrated project in the field of specialized emergency and catastrophe medicine: The Centre for Injuries of the Emergency and Catastrophe Medical Service, and the Integrated Specialized Emergency Medicine Center."

This undertaking will include the construction of the “Edukatorium" Research and Education Center whose main goal will be to initiate research in the area of development and implementation, industrial studies, and clinical research, and to participate in international medical projects. Notably, the antique building of the former Municipal Garbage Disposal Service will be adapted for the needs of the Help and Hope exhibition (a museum exhibition dedicated to the Holy Father John Paul II) that will constitute a part of the “Edukatorium" Center and of the “Innovation Gardens" program.

The project of the Integrated Specialized Emergency Medicine Center (acute cases of chest, heart and vascular diseases) is unique in our country. We are planning to build an emergency unit, a helicopter landing pad on the hospital grounds, and education facilities to conduct training. We have completed the offers stage. Currently, the design is being made and construction works will start in the second quarter of 2008.

Thank you for the interview.

MR