Certified Visceral Oncology Centre in Erfurt
The Helios Hospital Erfurt announces successful recertification of the Pancreatic and Colon Cancer Therapeutic Centre. For the first time ever, the Gastric Cancer Therapeutic Centre was certified as one of two hospitals in Thuringia.
High quality of work performed by general and visceral surgeons of the Helios Hospital Erfurt is confirmed by the independent committee on a regular basis. Doctors and medical personnel are routinely involved into treatment of rare diseases, operation room activities, lasting for several hours and requiring ultimate concentration, and follow-up of patients to recovery. However, the representatives of the Independent Certification Institute of the German Cancer Society peering over the shoulder once a year, asking evaluative questions concerning internal processes and comprehensively examining the documents, make even professionals a little nervous. "Certification implies good interaction of many departments. Not only the hands of a surgeon decide. The Radiation Department, Social Service, Quality Experts, junior and care medical personnel, stomal therapists and many other departments responsible for health and well-being of patients are taken into account," clarifies Dr. Albrecht Stier, Professor, Chief Medical Officer of the General and Visceral Surgery Department of the Helios Hospital Erfurt.
All participants are fully involved into the process during the so-called audit. The inspectors interview all those involved into recovery of patients in the departments and in their respective functional areas. The independent inspectors assess quality aspects such as interdisciplinary cooperation, general provision and quality of the results, check the patient medical records for compliance, look through the informational materials and review the relevance of the home page. Each department integrated into work of the Centre is comprehensively inspected. The most common aspects are surgery share, incidence of complications and quality of standard processes. The inspector draws up the report based on these aspects. It is only when all departments are convincing at every point, the certificate is issued or can be retained.
"Especially when it comes to treatment of cancer diseases, certain degree of diversification should be ensured to warrant quality treatment of our patients."
Dr. Albrecht Stier, Professor, Chief Medical Officer of the General and Visceral Surgery Department, Head of the Visceral Oncology Centre.
"Especially when it comes to treatment of cancer diseases, certain degree of diversification should be ensured to warrant quality treatment of our patients," underlines Dr. Albrecht Stier, Professor. "As an integral part of the Oncology Centre, we are coordinating people with cancer diseases. It is good that we are regularly visited by inspectors, who also compare us with other hospitals and evaluate our work respectively."
The most common clinical findings in the Visceral Oncology Centre are colon cancer, rectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, gastric cancer and esophageal cancer. "Most of these clinical cases can be handled using our robot Da Vinci System. Owing to this minimally invasive and high-precision method, we are among the leaders in the healthcare field in the Central Germany," adds Dr. Stier, Chief Medical Officer.
All audit efforts have been rewarded once again for the General and Visceral Surgery Department of the Helios Hospital Erfurt. The Pancreatic and Colon Cancer Centre can keep its quality mark for another year. The Gastric Canter Centre has received this award for the first time. Until now, only two clinics have received this quality mark in Thuringia.
But all participants are absolutely aware that "after certification" means "before certification". Thus, the processes and structures are being continuously tested and optimized. Eventually, this is for the benefit of many thousands of patients. Ultimately, the Independent Audit Certificate means that you are in good hands in case of disease.
