The Network for Better Medical Care

Germany is internationally renowned for its outstanding medical care, holds a leading position with regard to the quality of medical services and has efficient research institutes and university hospitals. A huge number of patients are treated in specialist medical centers and many hospitals.

In Berlin - 50 hospitals comprising about 20,000 beds are listed in the Land hospital scheme and provide for a high density of efficient medical centers, which treat nearly 700,000 inpatients annually in addition to a large number of outpatients. The high-performance system of medical care in the region is characterized by highly specialized diagnosis and therapy on the basis of state-of-the-art medical methods and equipment including biotechnology. It also performs well due to the efficient and patient-oriented organization of medical diagnosis and therapy as well as through the innovative integration of treatment sectors such as acute medicine and rehabilitation, which in the past had been separate fields. Apart from the Charité as a university hospital, other hospitals offer high-end medical care in their particular areas also.

This will be described hereinafter with a view to eight outstanding hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Berlin, which are members of the Network for Better Medical Care Berlin and have committed themselves to ensure high quality standards in the care and treatment of patients from Germany and abroad.

German Heart Institute Berlin (Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin)

A non-profit foundation under civil law incepted in 1986, German Heart Institute is a specialist center with a worldwide reputation for excellence for diagnosis and treatment of cardiothoracic and vascular diseases. The Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery is specialized in cardiothoracic operations, carries out heart and lung transplantations on a large scale, and implants artificial hearts as well. The Department of Congenital Heart Defects and Pediatric Cardiology is responsible for the entire area of diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects of whatever complexity.

In the Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology, the complete spectrum of invasive and non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the disciplines of cardiology and angiology is available. Research activities focus on hybrid therapy, tissue engineering, intra-operative trans-oesophageal echo cardiography and surgical alternatives to heart transplantation.

Trauma Center Berlin (Unfallkrankrankenhaus Berlin)

This offers high-end medicine in and around Berlin, especially for patients suffering from complex injuries. Amongst other things, the Center focuses on the treatment of severe burns, spinal cord injuries, apoplexy and casualty patients in general. To this end, the Center provides for sufficient capacity in particular for these main areas, but also in the fields of reconstructive and replantation surgery and neurosurgery.

One of its main characteristics is the integration of acute case treatment and rehabilitation – in this field, the Trauma Center offers well-organized high-end medicine. The Radiology Institute has developed to become a Teleradiology Center which supports telemedically the radiology departments of several other hospitals in the region.

Clinic for Minimally Invasive Surgery (Klinik für Minimal Invasive Chirurgie (MIC))

With its 44 beds, MIC carries out in its operating room operations on more than 3,000 patients annually. The range of treatment covers more than 70% of the indications which are also treated in “normal” surgery departments of other hospitals. The Clinic is able to cope with this task only due to systematic analysis, efficient organization and optimization of the flow of work in order to ensure a high quality level for the patients.

Less than 5% of the operations require “switching” to open surgery in the Clinic. The rate of complications and the number of repetitive operations is far below average (e. g., 0% in the case of gall bladder removal or repetitive hernia operations). The Clinic’s competence is evident in its centers for coloproctology, incontinence and pelvic floor surgery, endometriosis surgery, adiposity surgery, oncological surgery and gynecology.

DRK Clinics Berlin | Westend (Kliniken Berlin | Westend) of the German Red Cross

DRK is a non-profit organization, committed to cope with high quality challenges. They are among the few hospitals in Germany, which have been successfully certified for meeting the ambitious standards defined by the Joint Commission International. The Clinics offer a broad spectrum of high-performance medicine.

The latest “achievement” is the Radiation Therapy Center, which uses state-of-the-art technical equipment. Other outstanding highlights are the Pediatric Clinic including the Children’s Urology andGastroenterology Center, the Center for Surface Replacements on the Hip Joint and the Endocrine Surgery Center specialized in thyroid surgery as well as the Breast Center and the Tumor Surgery Center.

Sana Hospital Lichtenberg (Sana Klinikum Lichtenberg)

It focuses on certain areas of internal medicine and surgery, gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics and juvenile medicine. On all these areas, it offers high-performance medicine with excellent diagnosis and therapy methods. In the field of accident surgery, it closely co-operates with a rehabilitation hospital and integrates acute treatment and rehabilitation. An outstanding area of trans-regional attraction is tumor surgery. The area of pediatrics and juvenile medicine focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of chronically diseases such as metabolic and hormonal diseases, diseases of the respiratory tract, bacteria infections, immunodeficiency diseases in addition to general and acute pediatric diseases. The hospital has special competence in the treatment of children and adolescents suffering from cystic fibrosis including permanent respiration support.

Sankt Gertrauden Hospital (Sankt Gertrauden Krankenhaus)

It is a non-profit hospital run by the Catholic Church. Its high-end medical areas comprise first of all the Ophthalmology Department competent in glaucoma and cataract operations, cornea and retina operations including retinal detachment and refractive surgery, the Otolaryngology and Plastic Surgery Department where all otolaryngological operations can be performed, the Neurosurgery Department comprising centers for head and vascular neurosurgery, spinal cord and peripheral nerves as well as pediatric neurosurgery, the Breast Center with its exemplary interdisciplinary co-operation between gynecologists, oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, and radiation therapists in the field of diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Waldfriede Hospital (Krankenhaus Waldfriede)

DRK Clinics Berlin | Westend (Kliniken Berlin |
Westend) of the German Red Cross

This non-profit Protestant hospital has gained an excellent reputation as a multiple-area care center in and beyond the region. The interdisciplinary breast center uses modules of diagnosis, operative and post-operative therapy and additional measures to develop and implement optimum treatment procedures for each individual patient. The Intestine and Pelvic Floor Center, too, operates on an interdisciplinary basis in order to bundle expert competence with regard to each individual case. The proctology laboratory focuses on the entire area of modern proctologic diagnosis and uses the additional services of the X-ray department, if necessary. Apart from conservative forms of therapy, the Center also carries out operations.

Medical Park Humboldtmühle Berlin

Here, the Specialized Hospital of Neurology, Orthopedic Surgery and Cardiology is a partner hospital of the Charité and has set new standards for the public health sector in Berlin. On the historic premises of Humboldtmühle near Lake Tegel, the Medical Park AG has opened the most modern hospital specialized in rehabilitation and post-operative healing therapy worldwide. From now on, up to 300 patients can benefit from state-of-the-art diagnosis and therapy methods in the areas of neurology, orthopedic surgery, and cardiology. Patients will enjoy the extraordinary ambience, which resembles a top-class hotel.

The hospital’s Berlin Apoplexy Center is unique worldwide. This Center ensures unbroken treatment from the intensive care unit with its respiration support beds to the care for the patients at home. The unique cooperation with the Charité within the Apoplexy Alliance and the research and teaching activities at Humboldt University, aim at implementing new findings in the medical practice. Thus, Medical Park Berlin Humboldtmühle closes a severe gap in Berlin’s hospital sector.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Brauns is a renowned expert with outstanding experience in the management of non-profit and for-profit educational and healthcare organizations. He was CEO of the the Deutscher Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband Berlin (The German Parity Group – a major umbrella welfare organisation) from 1986 to 2003. As CEO, he implemented new strategies, which resulted in an extraordinary development of the DPW. By now, the organization is considered the most modern and dynamic welfare organization nationwide. He may be reached at Tel: +49 (0) 30 297 78 934 / Email office@ nbmc-berlin.de / www.nbmc-berlin.de