Health Promotion In The Hospital

2023 Author: Wallace Forman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 11:04

Health promoting hospitals

In hospitals, the focus is on high-quality medical treatment and care. A stay in hospital is also an opportunity to motivate patients and their relatives to lead a healthy lifestyle. In health-promoting hospitals, particular emphasis is placed on informing and advising patients on how they can reduce their health risk through a healthy lifestyle and live more healthily in the long term.

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This is where the Austrian Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Institutions (ONGKG) comes in. The aim is to build health promotion into hospital operations and to take measures that bring health benefits to patients, staff and the population in the vicinity of the hospital. In the interests of health promotion, people and their health are considered holistically.

Benefits for patients

During a hospital stay, health risks can be identified in the course of routine diagnosis and treatment, e.g. obesity, increased blood lipids, smoking, etc. In health-promoting hospitals, special emphasis is placed on informing and advising patients on how to reduce their health risk through a healthy lifestyle and live healthier in the long term. Through patient training and advice on how to deal independently (self-management) with chronic diseases, those affected should learn to deal better with their health problem and to take their health into their own hands.

The benefit of health promotion measures for patients lies in an increased quality of life and a better state of health. However, health promotion should not end with discharge from hospital. The general practitioner is therefore informed about an increased health risk and the proposed measures in the discharge letter.

Health promotion of hospital staff

The working conditions of the employees are an important area of health promotion in the hospital. Proven measures of company health promotion, e.g. burnout prevention, can have a positive influence on health and job satisfaction. This also benefits the quality of treatment and the patients.

Health promotion in the hospital environment

Health-promoting measures can also be taken in the hospital's catchment area, for example by opening up the range of training courses and counseling to people who are not hospital patients. However, the hospital can also suggest measures to make the living conditions of the population healthier: for example, in a hospital, risk of injury has been identified in children's playgrounds. As a result, the hospital suggested improving the safety of children's playgrounds.

Health promotion as a quality feature

The ONGKG supports Austrian hospitals and health facilities in the implementation of the topic of health promotion and provides strategies, standards and practice-oriented instruments (e.g. questionnaires, self-assessment forms, etc.). Health promotion can thus make an important contribution to the quality of treatment in a hospital (see Quality in Health Care). An important standard is the anchoring of health promotion in hospital management or in quality management. The extent to which the health promotion standards of the ONGKG are met can be measured by so-called indicators. (Eg: What percentage of the patients received training on self-management of their illness or on changing their smoking behavior?)

Health facilities also have the option of being certified by the ONGKG as a "smoke-free health facility" or as a "baby-friendly hospital". These hospitals offer their patients special health-promoting offers.