How do you benchmark when there is no national data base? A German story of success.

By Susann Winter, Corporate Communications, BG Klinikum Bergmannstrost Halle, Germany

BG Klinikum Bergmannstrost Halle, Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin, Klinikum Bremerhaven, Kreisklinikum Reutlingen and Universitäts- und Rehabilitationskliniken Ulm had teamed up to exchange on certain Magnet topics. They noticed that there was no other way to benchmark in Germany than setting up a system by themselves. As there was no national data base and the Magnet study did not provide a tool either, DIY seemed the only way to success – to big success, as it turned out.

In cooperation with BQS institute, they set up a list of data they wanted to benchmark and defined the criteria so the data would be comparable. To begin with, they selected decubitus and fall. All five hospitals agreed, that it would cost a certain amount of money but it would be worth it. With this opinion they should not remain alone for long. They named their initiative B·IN Pflege and invited other hospitals to join. More than ten gladly accepted so far – including the big university hospitals – and the group keeps growing. What makes this topic so exceptional: The initiative was taken by the hospitals themselves, not by a government department or a similar body.

While this step was necessary to continue the German Magnet path, the five initiators also attracted attention internationally. After sending in an abstract, they gratefully accepted the invitation to introduce their topic to the audience at Magnet4Europe Learning Collaborative in Cork, Ireland, in May 2022. 
​
Marion Kühn, Project Coordinator at Bergmannstrost in Halle, her colleague and Nursing Manager Ronny Czäczine, and Elena Wuzel, Magnet Program Director at Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin, received a lot of appreciation from the participants of the conference. Their American twinning partners Northwestern Medicine and Anne Arundel Medical Center supported them online – even though due to the time difference in the U.S. it was 3 a.m. in the morning.

---

Not only did they impress the audience, in the end Dr Linda Aiken declared it the best abstract of the conference. Meeting her was one of the personal highlights of the German group – even more so as Linda Aiken had already regretted the absence of “a database in Germany to collect and evaluate data on caregiver and patient satisfaction and nurse sensitive outcomes while meeting ANCC Criteria”. She very much appreciated the German merger and invited its initiators to the big Magnet conference in the U.S. this autumn. “What a great honour for us – and such a motivation”, Marion said after this impressive talk. 

They returned home with a lot of ideas, contacts to network with and a zest for action. “We have become really proud to be a part of this study. We are so thankful to our CEO´s and Nursing Directors for their support”, Ronny says. And Elena adds: “This is not only about becoming a Magnet hospital. It‘s about advancing healthcare and nursing together. It‘s impressive how networking with other hospitals can make a difference. We had the idea to set up a data base and maybe a benchmark system for a number of German hospitals. But now we really have the chance to make nursing measurable for Germany and create a benchmark with all the participating hospitals.”