Interdisciplinary exchange at the LSZ Health Congress in Loipersdorf on cur-rent challenges in healthcare organizations.

As in previous years, Guido Offermanns moderated the LSZ Health Congress in Loipersdorf on 2 and 3 July 2024 and was involved in the design of the programme. Andrea Schweiger from the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Hospital Organization and Alexandra Kratki and Valentina Lobnik from the Department of Organization, Human Resources and Service Management also contributed to the congress programme.

The congress focused on interdisciplinary exchange between decision-makers from the Austrian health and social care sector. In a highly interactive atmosphere, challenges in medicine, nursing, therapy, administration, IT, management, quality management and human resources were discussed, best practices were presented, and valuable experiences were exchanged.

The first contribution by Alexandra Kratki and Guido Offermanns, “Open communication as a key factor for improving patient safety – empirical results and instruments”, presented the results of an empirical study showing the relationship between open communication and patient safety. It is shown that the culture of patient safety can be measured empirically and that instruments for a measurable improvement in communication can be derived from this. In this context, managers are responsible for striving for open communication and a just culture.

The second contribution on the topic of ‘Hands-on workshop: AI tools for everyday work to generate knowledge’ was presented by Valentina Lobnik, Alexandra Kratki and Guido Offermanns. They gave an overview of how AI tools work and the benefits and challenges that the use of AI will bring for patients and health professionals in the future. Practical examples were used to impressively demonstrate the application of various AI tools and to illustrate possible negative aspects of their use.

Andrea Schweiger from the Karl Landsteiner Institute for Hospital Organization and a doctoral student at the Institute presented a contribution on the topic of “Teamwork as a key factor for change processes – empirical results from a study on multi-disciplinary tumour boards”, in which the cooperation of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teams was presented using the example of oncology. The empirical study analyzed various dimensions of collaboration, the results of which can also be applied to multidisciplinary teams in other medical fields. Guido Offermanns is co-author of this study.

The next Health Congress will be held on 1st and 2nd July 2025. Location will be announced.

Aftermovie Health Congress 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjmvBfRupUo

Review of the 2024 Congress and outlook for 2025: https://lsz.at/events/gesundheitskongress