Ing. Norbert Schellong, MPH, is the Director of Havířov Hospital. Despite the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, he has managed to introduce new diagnostic methods and implement investment plans at the hospital and is actively involved in the development and research of distance medicine. He is a member of the international association for telemedicine and a member of the scientifi c council of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ostrava. He was also named Manager of the Year for 2020.
The Havířov Hospital is known for its proactive approach to introducing new pilot programmes, technologies and software. It tries to be one of the few regional hospitals active in science and research. Can you explain this activity in more detail to the readers?
For example, in clinical practice and emergency medicine, we came across a software company that, in collaboration with the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague, has created a software tool called Z-Case. This is an ingenious idea logistically similar to, for example, the alternative taxi service Uber or Liftago. Until now, information from the so-called pre-hospital phase has been transmitted from the emergency medical service by telephone and in
a certain limited mode. The new system software tool that we have implemented in all specialities of our emergency reception gives us information not only about the estimated arrival of the ambulance at the hospital and its location but also sends us information about the patient, including the measured physiological functions on board the ambulance.
Another new feature that we are constantly trying to improve in our hospital is the possibility of electronic ordering for outpatient and diagnostic procedures, as you know them, for example, from testing or vaccinations.
Our hospital is also active in new telemedicine trends. I have been involved in this fi eld for seven years now, and I have found many enthusiasts among the doctors in our hospital.
We want to implement several similar projects every year. Our hospital has about two dozen researchers who are involved in research and development projects with medical universities, and in the future, we plan to make our regional hospital a registered entity for research and development in the field of health care.
What benefits can distance medicine bring to business and management?
The benefi ts are large and signifi cant, from both individual and managerial perspectives. It could be said that the healthier the manager, the healthier and better the company. Consider how many people and key managers underpin the strategy and development of a company today. Even for the largest ones, success, competitiveness and sustained growth are based on five to ten top management leaders who manage those several thousand employees through 30 other middle management colleagues. The average age of these key people today is 45, an age that a minority is more likely to live to without various chronic diseases or health problems that can fundamentally affect the company’s operation. Catching the trend of a key specialist’s deteriorating health right from the start and treating them early on as an outpatient eliminates their long-term absenteeism and loss of production for entire teams and companies, which is why telemedicine is becoming one of the most useful systemic tools in 21st-century medicine.
You have been running the regional hospital for several years. What have been your most outstanding achievements with your team of employees?
Although it may sound like a cliché, I consider building a company culture, common strategic goals that we are successful in meeting, and gradually building team spirit the biggest success. People are beginning to realise that the
strategy we created when I joined the hospital is not just a dusty notepad, but a really valuable and useful document and the soul of our management team, by which we guide the next stages of our development. We have completely modernised the entire radiology department and implemented MRI, which was sorely missed. In laboratory diagnostics, we have introduced immune-allergy testing for the diagnosis of our clinics, and we have introduced procedures in haemato-oncology for the regional centre with extended scope in haemato-pathology. We have also expanded diagnostics in our maternity ward, where we now have one of the most advanced antenatal monitoring systems. Thanks to this, we have also achieved the fastest rise in the last two years among Czech maternity hospitals, almost doubling the number of deliveries while maintaining a high quality of care and a modern approach. As part of prostate screening and prevention, we have added the PSA parameter to the spectrum of laboratory methods. These new methods have led to an increase in the quality of care in our urology department. This year, in addition to my award, we have received an award for the gradual change of the hospital’s internal environment. We have also received this year’s Physician of the Year award in the inpatient department category, which went to our senior consultant of the Paediatrics Department, MUDr Hynek Canibal. I am proud of all these improvements and changes we have achieved. However, we still have a lot of tasks ahead of us, and we will see more positive changes in our hospital in the coming year.
A hospital is not just medicine and a clinic, but as a large organisation, it has to deal with energy management, waste, catering and other economic processes. All of these will be aff ected by price rises and infl ation at the moment. How can you cope with this problem?
Of course, we will also be aff ected by rising energy prices. We are a large consumer of both primary electricity and the
electricity we use for cooling or insulation of buildings, catering, etc. We are currently implementing a cogeneration unit that will ensure our independence from the electricity supply, especially in the spring and summer months. Hospitals, with their size and the built-up area of their buildings and roofs, are very interesting for the introduction of photovoltaic technologies. Our hospital was one of the first in the Czech Republic to install a new technology which, by crushing and microwave radiation, removes all the harmful properties of hazardous hospital waste, lightens it and transforms it into a waste of a less demanding category.
Thank you for the interview.
