LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf Hospital of the Heinrich-Heine University ...

lVr-KlINIKUM DÜSSelDOrF – HOSPItal OF tHe HeINrIcH-HeINe UNIVerSItY DÜSSelDOrF
2.2.6 Cross-divisional facilities
Company healthcare
The LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf operates a dedicated company
healthcare service which is in charge of providing medical
assistance to its own staff. It is headed by Th. Kniest, MD.
Ombudsperson for the patients
The ombudsperson (complaint officer) is elected by the
Hospital Committee of the Landschaftsversammlung
Rhineland (regional parliament) for a period of two years
at a time. Hans-Georg Ibold has been representing the
interests of the patients in this capacity since October 2001.
The primary idea is to have someone who knows the system
and who can react quickly to any concern a patient may
voice. The ombudsperson is also expected to inform and, if
necessary, involve the hospital management.
Alfred Adler School – Municipal School for Patients
Director: J. Hinne-Fischer, special schools teacher
The “School for Patients” in Düsseldorf carries the name
of Alfred Adler, the founder of the science of individual
psychology. The school provides education for children who
are being treated as inpatients at the hospital or at a similar
healthcare institution and who are therefore prevented from
attending lessons at their usual school for at least four
weeks (Education Act of the Federal State of NRW, most
recently amended on 27 June 2006). The school accepts
pupils from all types of schools, from primary schools to
vocational colleges. Lessons comply with the guidelines
and curricula of the schools the pupils used to attend at
home. The pupils are supported individually or in groups,
according to their psychological and physical condition.
For patients of school age, school lessons are routine and
therefore represent a slice of normality in their special life
situation. With its range of lessons, the school contributes
to the development of the children’s healthy resources. The
Alfred Adler School features three departments, one of
which (Municipal School for Patients – Department of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry) has been attached to the LVR-
Klinikum Düsseldorf. The school teaches up to 40 pupils,
aged between 6 and 20, roughly equally divided into boys
and girls. Most pupils attend lessons in Secondary Stage I
(years 6 through to 11), about 30% have been transferred
from primary schools and different types of special
schools. Education is generally provided over a period of
several weeks or months, in a few cases for even longer.
The range of disorders includes psychoses, obsessive
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compulsive disorders, (school) phobias, depressions,
suicidal tendencies, borderline syndromes, hyperactivity,
eating disorders, epileptic seizures, etc. Close cooperation
with the clinical units is a key condition for the successful
work with mentally ill children and young people. Weekly
team meetings and daily phone calls before lessons plus,
if required, personal meetings and crisis meetings all
play an essential part in the efforts of the Division of Child
and Adolescent Psychiatry of the Alfred Adler School. The
individual treatment units make sure that the morning hours
are kept as free as possible for the school lessons, generally
scheduling therapeutic sessions and other activities for
the afternoons. The school, in close coordination with the
hospital, maintains contact with the pupils’ parents as well
as with their pupils’ former and future schools.
School newspaper, KraSs
For fifteen years, the school published the bi-annual school
newspaper KLAPSE, which was very successful and won
several prizes. KLAPSE ceased publication in 2007, but the
newly established school newspaper KraSs – for “Kranke
Schüler schreiben” (“Ill pupils write”) – pursues a similar
agenda, striving to make psychiatry more transparent, to
provide the – often poorly informed – general public with an
insider perspective and to combat prejudices.
Work experiences for pupils
Pupils of age 14 and up can be placed in an internship for
a certain period. These internships are very important for
many pupils, helping them to experience real life situations
and stabilise themselves. Experiential education courses
include horse riding and therapeutic work in the school
garden.
Central Archive for Medical Records and Basic
Documentation (BADO)
Director: Dr. med. J . Malevani
Staff: B. Will, I. Fiering, S.-O. Cho
The Central Archive for Medical Records provides medical
records for the healthcare departments and various
research groups as well as prompt replies to clinically
relevant requests from external institutions. Quality
assurance and economic viability were two priorities of
recent years. Since 2006, the return times of borrowed and
newly created files has been statistically evaluated. The
archive also started to create protocols of incoming requests