Digitalization is a major issue in the healthcare sector. Many hospitals—especially smaller ones—view this development and the changes it brings as a threat. In Essen, however, the opposite is true: there’s a spirit of optimism at Essen University Hospital! No wonder—with over fifty clinics and institutes, this major institution has consistently taken on a clear pioneering role. Cardiology, in particular, is among the winners of the digital transformation.
The healthcare system is currently undergoing nothing less than a paradigm shift. “Medicine—and with it, hospitals—are facing the most profound change in their history,” according to the University Hospital Essen. This far-reaching institution is not only the largest of its kind in the entire Ruhr region—and thus in one of Europe’s most important metropolitan areas—but it has also stood for progressive medical approaches from the very beginning.
No wonder, then, that they realized here earlier than elsewhere: To ensure patient-centered, universally accessible medical care in the future, digitalization must be embraced as a central tool and implemented accordingly.
“Smart Hospital”: Digitalization as an Opportunity
In Essen, the course has long been set: As a leading provider of cutting-edge medical services, the local university medical center views digitalization as an ideal opportunity to shape the hospital into a perfectly networked entity—a state-of-the-art “Smart Hospital.” In doing so, they’ve created an exemplary blueprint that connects all areas and brings them into balance. Whether it involves investments in medical equipment, IT infrastructure, or personnel planning: In Essen, the focus is on sustainable medicine—and thus on people.
The digital transformation currently in full swing at Essen University Hospital pursues two central goals to which everything else is subordinated: patient well-being—that is, promoting healing and, consequently, rapid access to research findings—and optimized working conditions, especially in nursing. All of this is to be achieved through the use of digitally supported documentation, extending all the way to robotics.
… and the winner is: Cardiology!
For Prof. Dr. Tienush Rassaf, Director of the Department of Cardiology and Angiology, one winner of the “Smart Hospital” initiative has already emerged: cardiology. According to the internationally renowned heart specialist, technological progress and digitalization are particularly important and forward-looking in his field. “Novel diagnostic procedures, telemedicine, non-interventional approaches—that is, without external intervention—as well as innovative interventional catheter techniques combined with hybrid imaging modalities offer enormous progress in treatment,” says Prof. Rassaf.
Patients with cardiac arrhythmias, valvular heart disease, heart failure, or coronary artery disease, in particular, benefit from the dynamic development of new procedures that would be unthinkable without digitalization. Incidentally, this development does not stop at teaching and training, as the experienced specialist emphasizes: “Innovative teaching and learning methods—such as virtual reality projects using specialized headsets—bridge the gap between the possibilities of innovative medicine and a modern education for future doctors.”
Essen: Numerous Specialists with an International Reputation
In Essen, those in charge have already found the right path to embrace the digital transformation as a positive development and set the right course—including from an economic perspective. After all, the “Smart Hospital” also serves as the foundation for sustainable medicine at the macroeconomic level.
With this approach, Essen University Hospital will certainly be well-equipped to tackle the challenges of the future. As for the well above-average concentration of first-class specialists with international reputations, the hospital complex has long since set the standard anyway.
Thank you very much, Prof. Rassaf, for the fascinating insight into the future of (cardiovascular) medicine!
Are you interested in Essen University Hospital and Prof. Rassaf? Get to know this heart and vascular specialist better and use Leading Medicine Guide to contact Prof. Rassaf directly and securely!
Unimedizin-Essen UE102, LMG10 – Image sources: (c) Production Perig, (c) natali_mis – Adobe Stock.
