CARDIAC INSUFFICIENCY

The company:

ANregiomed is an association of the clinics Ansbach, Dinkelsbühl, Rothenburg and the Praxisklinik Feuchtwangen. A total of 813 beds are available for the treatment of acute-care patients. In the major departments and the specialist departments, approximately 2,500 employees work to provide for 40,000 acute-care patients each year.
In addition, there are several thousand outpatient surgeries. Following the motto "competence with service and charm", the association ensures the health care in the city and county Ansbach.

Objective:

Within the ANregiomed clinics, cardiac insufficiency is one of the main diagnoses. Therefore, heart and vessels of the cardiac insufficiency treatment process, in which the patient is the focus, should be visualized within the clinic-cross-competency network.
While the workflow is a matter of course for the clinic staff, it is often difficult for the patients to understand what is behind the many specialist courses and the individual measures.

Target groups:

For the first time, the dialog picture was presented on the 10th anniversary of cardiology. In addition to the many professional groups in the clinic, including specialists, nursing staff, nutritional counselors and more, relatives, volunteer helpers and house doctors should also find themselves in the picture. People that are not familiar with the topic should be sensitized to the related issues. It reflects the different roles and fields of activity of the employees as well as the detailed visualization of the workwear, workstations and medical devices.

Topics:

The illustration of the heart failure treatment pathway is arranged chronologically and shows which treatment steps are performed. The dialog picture leads through the steps from the acute symptoms through the various diagnostic and therapeutic measures up to the discharge as a recovered patient. The prerequisite for the basic framework was that it should not be related to a particular location, but instead represent the ANregiomed hospital.

Thus the aspects of all hospitals were united in a large building, because the core statement is: no matter in which ANregiomed location the patient is treated, the competence of the treatment is the same everywhere.

House doctor

The patient has swollen legs and is short of breath, so he visits a family doctor. ANregiomed maintains close contact with the house doctors, as these provide an important interface to the patients. The physician is informed about the symptoms of heart failure and gives a preliminary finding for the doctors of ANregiomed.

Reception

The patient is accompanied by a relative and at the front desk warmly welcomed by an ANregiomed employee. Patients suffering from chronic heart failure are often recurring guests in the clinic. ANregiomed therefore attaches great importance to the fact that the patients feel well received and meet a competent, trustworthy team.

ECG

In the context of diagnostics, the patient is examined by means of an ECG. The electrodes are connected via cable to the ECG device, which records the cardiac activity. The classic ECG is performed on a laying, relaxed patient and is therefore referred to as Resting ECG.

OP

In severe cardiac insufficiency, which is not or not sufficiently responding to a drug treatment, various surgical procedures may be necessary. Such as, for example, pacemaker implantation. In addition to the surgeon, a member of nursing staff takes care of the patient during the operation and the anesthetist monitors the anesthesia and ventilation.

Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. C. Wacker
Chief of cardiology, ANregiomed

"The hospital association ANregiomed is based in the region of Mittelfranken, Bavaria. We ensure regional health care through the hospital sites Ansbach, Dinkelsbühl and Rothenburg. A particular focus is on cardiac patient care. A common treatment pathway for the disease pattern of cardiac insufficiency was coordinated between the three sites. However, what often seems to be very useful for the physician at first sight is often incomprehensible to the patient.

The terms and expressions are not to be found in the everyday vocabulary, and the patient, at best, may only know a cardiac ultrasound from the television. It is important for the treating physician to address the patient's questions and to take their worries and fears seriously. The patient should understand what it means to be suffering from chronic heart failure and what he should look out for. The treatment guidelines and pathways used by the doctors should be presented as simply as possible. It was important that ANregiomed is viewed as a whole and does not separate into the individual sites. It is precisely the employees dealing with the patient in the care or in the medical activity, who should recognize themselves in the picture.

The clear message should also be the involvement of the house or specialist physician. The patient enters the clinic via the prescriber, and finally he is taken back to the clinician. The cooperation with DIALOGBILD worked very well. We were always informed about the current status and were able to implement large and detailed changes according to our expectations. The new area of ​​hospital care was also presented professionally."

Before the dialog picture conception, a classic briefing took place, in which objectives, expectations, timings and framework conditions were discussed. After selecting a sketch for the background, it was filled with individual stations of the patient in the form of scene sketches. With the help of this black-and-white sketch, changes and details for the fine illustration could be discussed in an interdisciplinary agreement meeting. A tour through the clinic as well as photos and illustrations supported the dialog picture´s further development and ensured a high level of detail.