IFHE general secretary, Gunnar Baekken, was among the speakers at the 32nd Annual Conference of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (CHES), themed ‘Towards World Class Healthcare’, and held at Montreal’s Palais des congrès from 25-26 September this year, writes IFHE President, Ole Rist, who accompanied his fellow Norwegian on the trip
Ole Rist reports: “Invited to the conference with me by CHES’s President, JJ (John) Knott, Gunnar Baekken spoke on the topic of ‘World Class Healthcare: International Perspectives’, discussing, in particular, how the international community had grappled with some of the key considerations when designing and building high quality hospitals and other healthcare facilities.” Other topics covered by speakers included:
• ‘What is done in Europe?’ – standards and requirements.
• ‘Strategic vision: world-class technical services’.
• Infection and climate control considerations in the construction of healthcare facilities.
• ‘The road to ISO’.
• Exploring world-class technologies for healthcare.
• ‘From 9 to 1 with the Help of LEAN’.
• ‘High performance and building innovations’.
• Therapeutic design in healthcare.
• Healthcare applications of antimicrobial copper, and their impact on patient safety.
• State-of-the-art water distribution in Alberta.
• Energy performance in hospitals of the future.
“Having flown to Toronto, we rented a car and enjoyed the drive to Montreal, seeing some beautiful scenery along the way,” explains Ole Rist. “Once in Montreal, we enjoyed a visit to the Jewish General Hospital on 23 September, where a new critical wing is under construction. The key goals are to improve access to life-saving treatment, reduce waiting times, and enable the hospital to continue to provide the highest levels of patient care. There later followed an opening reception for the conference. “On 24 September CHES’s President, JJ Knott, presided over the opening ceremony. An inspiring keynote was given by senator Larry Smith, an extremely well-known sportsman and now a businessman and senator, who referred to the so-called ‘bicycle model’. Concerned with health and wellbeing, this dictates that there should be a ‘good balance between power and direction, competence, and consciousness’. Using the bicycle analogy, the senator discussed what would happen in the event of any imbalance between the diameter of the wheels in the bicycle, emphasised the importance and benefits of keeping physically fit, and stressed his belief in consistent and honest decision-making, with particular reference to the work of estates and facilities personnel. He also discussed good ‘listening skills’, and the ability to manage, and adjust to, change. “Another particularly notable presentation was given by Dale Woodin, Executive Director of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), who discussed ‘US perspectives on world-class healthcare’. “The evening of the first day saw a Gala Dinner held. The conference was extremely well arranged, and all the issues presented on were topical and interesting.”
