PubMed · 11636270
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K Ganzinger. 1984. [Not Available].. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11636270/
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This paper presents a new approach for incorporating public hospitals by contrasting the experience from an "old" EU country (Austria) with a new EU member state (Estonia). In the EU (including the new member states) hospital overcapacity is a serious problem, from a technical, fiscal and political perspective. Few countries have succeeded in establishing an appropriate framework for resource management and for guaranteeing long-term financial viability of their hospital network. Many countries are in search of effective policies for improved hospital management and more cost-effective resource use in the health sector. Over the past decade, experiences in Austria and Estonia have emerged as innovative examples which may provide lessons for other EU countries and beyond. This paper describes the evolution of public hospitals from public budgetary units and public management to incorporated autonomous organizations under private corporate law, resulting in a contractual relationship between (public) owners and private hospital management. Outdated and inefficient public sector structures were replaced by more agile corporate management. The arrangement allows for investments, operating costs and budgeting according to strategic business goals as opposed to political "fiat". Shielding hospitals from local political influence is an important aspect of this concept. Horizontal integration through networking of public hospitals and introducing private management helps create a new corporate culture, allowing for more flexibility to achieve efficiencies through downsizing and economies of scale. Based on contracts the new balance between ownership and managerial functions create strong incentives for a more business-like, results-oriented and consumer-friendly management. This was achieved both in Austria and Estonia in a politically sensitive way, adopting a long-term vision and by protecting the interests of hospital owners and staff.
A method for simultaneous quantitative determination of alkyl benzyl, dialkyl and trialkyl quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) has been developed, validated and subsequently applied to real water samples in Austria. The method employs liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) followed by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), using electrospray ionization (ESI) in positive mode. The overall method quantification limits range from 4 to 19ng/L for the enrichment of 500mL water samples and analyte recoveries are between 80 and 99%. The method was applied to 62 of the respective water samples without filtration to avoid the loss of the analytes due to the high adsorption capacity of these compounds. Maxima in the mg/L range, especially in the wastewater of hospitals and laundries, could be detected for the selected target compounds.
The European DNA profiling group (EDNAP) mtDNA population database (EMPOP) is an international collaborative project between DNA laboratories performing mtDNA analysis and the DNA laboratory of the Institute of Legal Medicine (GMI) in Innsbruck, Austria. The goal is to set up a directly accessible mtDNA population database, which can be used in routine forensic casework for frequency investigations. Here we describe a safe laboratory scheme involving electronical data handling and computer-aided data transfer, which help to minimize errors originating from potential sample mix-up, data misinterpretation and incorrect transcription. The procedure is demonstrated by example of an mtDNA control region population study on 273 unrelated individuals from Austria. Our population sample was compared with five other European populations via an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). The inclusion of regions outside HVS-I and HVS-II increased the amount of information on the haplogroup diagnostic sites in the control region. Most of the haplotypes in Austrians fell into haplogroups H, J, K, T, and U. The random match probability in Austrians was 1:125; the average number of nucleotide differences between individuals in the Austrian database was 9.32.