SCOPE & PURPOSE

Current political and cultural transformation processes have a strong impact on health care services. Hospitals in particular are challenged to accommodate to new models of governance and patient orientation – a necessity which is further enhanced by the increasing cultural diversity of society. The 11th International Conference on Health Promoting Hospitals will address these issues and discuss strategies and operational models for hospitals to adapt and improve the health outcome of their services and the health impact of their settings by implementing new hospital governance, realising patient orientation, and developing strategies to deal with cultural diversity.

	TOWARDS NEW GOVERNANCE

In Europe and other continents, the increasing dynamics and complexity of society require new instruments for steering social developments. In the European Union, models and instruments to increase the participation of institutions, networks and citizens in decision-making processes have become known as New Governance. The conference will tackle the question how hospitals can take up the challenges and chances of new hospital governance to improve their health outcomes:

•••• How can New Governance be applied to the health care sector, especially to hospitals? What is the relation to enabling / empowerment in health promotion?
•••• How can hospitals improve staff and patient participation in hospital decision making?
•••• How can hospitals contribute to the overall societal change and health policy development processes as advocates for health or partners in healthy alliances?
•••• What could be the role of the HPH networks in contributing to these processes?

	REALISING PATIENT ORIENTATION

Patient orientation is an important issue in current hospital and health care reforms, especially in quality strategies. In the framework of this conference, concepts, models and experiences of the specific HPH approach to patient orientation will be discussed:

•••• How can patient orientation be understood in a health promotion context – what is the relation to empowerment and improvement of health literacy? What models, experiences and evidence do exist?
•••• How can patient involvement in hospital decisions (“new hospital governance”) increase patient orientation and patient health?
•••• How can the orientation at protecting patients’ health be strengthened to reduce negative effects of hospitals like medical risks and errors or nosocomial infections?

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	MANAGING CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN HOSPITALS

Hospitals in Europe and other regions of the world are challenged by the increasing cultural diversity of their patients and staff, which is due to processes like increasing (European) integration, the planned enlargement of the European Union, ongoing migration movements, health tourism etc. The conference will discuss implications of increased cultural diversity for Health Promoting Hospitals:

•••• What can health promotion offer to hospitals for successfully coping with cultural diversity?
•••• What specific solutions can be implemented to promote the health of culturally diverse patient populations (e.g. improve quality of hospital services, increase health literacy)?
•••• What are the implications of a culturally diverse workforce for workplace health promotion in hospitals?

	PROGRAM ELEMENTS

Conference topics will be presented and discussed in keynote lectures and panels, workshops, paper and poster sessions. As a new element in the parallel sessions, action labs will be introduced as a specific form of bringing together theory and practice on selected conference issues.

	WHO SHOULD ATTEND THE CONFERENCE ?

The conference aims at providing orientation and facilitating an exchange of knowledge and experiences for the following target groups: Representatives of the medical and nursing professions and all other health professional groups; hospital and health care management; representatives from patient organisations and other NGOs; representatives from health policy and health administration; public health actors and experts; health and health promotion scientists and practitioners, and health care consultants.

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