Always in focus: Quality and safety

The foundation of our work

Treatments must be carried out safely 24/7, equipment needs to function reliably, and medications should have the intended benefits. Structured processes, training, and quality management systems are our tools for continuously improving patient and product safety. Our quality management helps us to keep errors to a minimum, enhance the efficiency of our workflows, and strengthen the trust of patients and customers. We also use quality management to counter potential threats. Precautions are taken against external influences, such as natural disasters, and against the failure of technical systems.

The quality requirements differ depending on the business activity – for our healthcare facilities and for the development, production and sale of drugs, and for medical-technical products. Our management systems are therefore structured to meet the different requirements and are based on special internal and external standards. We use performance indicators to monitor, manage, and improve our processes in quality management.

Awards for medical quality

Quirónsalud

• The US current-affairs magazine Newsweek selected five hospitals run by Quirónsalud in 2023 as the world’s best specialist hospitals.
• According to Monitor de Reputación Sanitaria 2023, five centers operated by Quirónsalud rank among the Top 10 private hospitals with the best reputation in Spain.

Helios

• Business magazine Wirtschaftswoche selected Helios as the Top Healthcare Provider in Germany in the category Clinics and Hospital Groups Nationwide.

Fresenius Kabi

• Fresenius Kabi was saluted by Vizient Inc. as Supplier Partner of the Year 2023. Vizient is the largest provider-focused healthcare performance improvement company in the United States.

Our approach to product safety

Alongside a high level of quality, we also have to guarantee the safety of our products. That’s why we market and label products with complete, fact-based information directed toward facilitating safe handling of products.

We also focus on recording and disclosing side effects. Adverse reactions can never be entirely ruled out after taking a medication because different bodies often react differently. The benefit of taking a drug always needs to be greater than the risk of adverse reactions and events. That’s why we monitor the effects of medicines. These activities are grouped under the concept of pharmacovigilance (drug safety). Fresenius Kabi analyzes the relationship between the benefit and risk of the products in accordance with defined processes, identifies each change at an early stage, and is able to give a timely response. The business segment forwards reports about side effects directly to the authorities. It also immediately informs the public and its customers about any observed defects or measures relating to product and patient safety. This is carried out, for example, through general communication channels or in direct contacts.

From inspections to simulations – safety at our facilities

As with our healthcare products, safety is the top priority at our healthcare facilities. Specialized professionals carry out regular inspections there in order to keep potential hazards for patients to a minimum. Hygiene professionals and specialists in epidemiology are responsible for prevention and control of infections.

Our employees receive regular training on relevant topics such as treatment processes, patient safety, and hygiene management in accordance with their areas of responsibility. They also share ideas at events. This allows them to incorporate other people’s experiences into their day-to-day hospital work and to take appropriate action. Training for surgical procedures and crisis scenarios is even more directly focused on practice. Doctors and nursing professionals are able to run through a variety of scenarios, which can occur on day and night shifts, in our hospitals and in three simulation and emergency academies operated by Helios.

Identifying and recording errors, and learning from them

We use reporting and learning systems to record all critical incidents – irrespective of whether anybody was harmed. On this basis, we are able to identify and highlight potential errors in processes and workflows, and take steps to eliminate them. Above all, it is important to take precautions in order to avoid never events – undesirable events that can result in serious harm to patients. These include events such as wrong-side surgery in operations, or aids such as surgical sponges accidently left in a patient’s body after an operation.

Transparent error management actively encourages our employees and patients to report any incidents and near misses. We evaluate systematically recorded, unwelcome events and allegations of treatment errors and introduce improvement measures. We also carry out peer reviews – specific audit procedures in the medical and nursing sectors involving expert discussions of cases. In the interests of transparency, we also engage with liability cases and strive to ensure that complaints and incidents are dealt with in a correct legal way.