The 45th IHF World Hospital Congress is a unique global forum that brings together IHF Members and leaders of hospitals, health services, and healthcare organizations. Providing an invaluable networking opportunity for leaders in healthcare, the themes chosen for each congress focus on the biggest trends and common issues in the sector. Expert-led sessions are complemented by workshops, breakouts, scientific posters, and exhibitors from across the industry. It’s a hive of knowledge exchange, collaboration, and innovation – a chance to gather our international community to focus on what healthcare leaders can learn from each other to improve service delivery at home. For this episode, Dr Farida, chair of the Scientific Committee, invited members of the Scientific Committee to share their experience working together on the formulation of the Congress program. Dr Abdullatif and Ryan also shared their expectations for the upcoming congress. Dr. Farida AlKhaja Chief Executive Officer, Clinical Support Services & Nursing Sector, Dubai Health Authority, United Arab Emirates Farida Alkhaja is working in Dubai Health Authority for the past 25 years. She is leading six core services in DHA, Pharmacy services, Pathology & Genetics services, Clinical Nutrition services, Diagnostic Imaging services, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation services and Nursing services. AlKhaja has received her Bachelor degree of Pharmacy Sciences from Cairo University in Egypt in the year 1996. Dr. Abdullatif Saad Alokifi Assistant of Director General for GD of Hospital Affairs, Ministry of Health, Saudi ArabiaDr. Abdullatif Alokifi is the Assistant of Director General for General Administration of Hospital Affairs, the General Supervisor of Wazen Program and the Chairman of Hospital Commissioning Unit at Saudi Ministry of Health, KSA. Coordinator for IHF. He used to be the Director of Strategic Planning and Operation in General Administration of Quality and Patient Safety at Saudi Ministry of Health, KSA. Ryan Keiler Associate Director, Standards Development and Interpretation, Joint Commission InternationalRyan Keiler serves as an Associate Director of Standards Development and Interpretation for The Joint Commission International. In this role, Mr. Keiler serves on work groups, task forces, and committees to support the development and re-development of international accreditation standards and interpretations.

Violence against healthcare has been a recurrent problem over the years across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic has appeared to worsen the situation, with a documented increase of incidents in many countries Since 2015 the International Hospital Federation is strongly involved in the Healthcare in Danger initiative of the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent advocating for the safety of health personnel and protection of healthcare around the globe. Robyn, Ana and Paul sat down to disucss how we can resolve violence in healthcare. About the Speakers: Ana Elisa Barbar Adviser on issues of violence against healthcare at International Committee of the Red Cross Dr. Robyn Begley Chief Executive Officer at American Organization for Nursing Leadership Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer at American Hospital Association Paul Sarnese Assistant Vice President for Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness at Virtua Health Inc, United States

One of the biggest ‘service shifts’ in the healthcare sector since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the widespread adoption of telehealth. As well as being a viable option to provide continuity of care and treatment to patients during the coronavirus pandemic, telehealth has transformed how health systems can respond to chronic workforce shortages and optimise their clinical capacities. So for our first Talking Healthcare podcast in 2022, we have invited Sharon Allen and Dr. Amit Tahkker to discuss the challenges and opportunities of telehealth for Africa’s diverse healthcare systems. About the Speakers: Sharon Allen, Co-founder and Executive Director of World Telehealth Initiative (WTI) As Executive Director of the World Telehealth Initiative (WTI), Sharon has engaged with the American Telehealth Association, the White House Telehealth Innovation Summit, Nigeria’s Healthcare Today – Keynote, MENA Telehealth Conference, Telehealth Innovator’s Forum, AAFP Global Health Summit, and more. Under Sharon’s leadership, WTI has developed an innovative model that leverages remote philanthropic physicians to provide sustainable medical expertise via telehealth. Moreover, Sharon has been selected to serve on the World Health Organization Digital Health Board of Advisors and Roster of Experts. She is currently working with WHO on their Telehealth Roadmap for the Underserved. Dr. Amit N. Thakker, President of the Africa Healthcare Federation Amit is the President of Africa Healthcare Federation, the immediate past-Chairman of Kenya Healthcare Federation and has served as a Director at LumiraDx, Seven Seas Technology, AMREF Flying Doctors, Action Aid and Ghanima Limited. Dr. Thakker actively supports governments, corporates, health organisations and development partners to foster effective public-private partnership initiatives towards improved health outcomes. As an active member of several institutions including international business group YPO Gold (Nairobi Chapter), Dr. Thakker also chairs the University of Nairobi Alumni Medical Chapter and serves as an advisor to Asia Africa Investing & Consulting Ltd, Coalition for Blood in Africa (CoBA) and Ministry of Health, Kenya.

COVID-19 created tremendous pressure on health systems across the world, leading policy-makers to offer hospitals new flexibilities for digital health to fill gaps in capacity. This episode features the CEO of Digital Healthcare at Aster DM Healthcare, a global health system spanning India and the Middle East region. Listeners will learn about Aster's efforts to internalize digital processes (e.g. administration, operation) and external services (e.g. virtual ICUs, virtual prescription refills) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This episode will also offer insights about the role of public-private partnerships in digital health, the cost and infrastructure requirements for implementation, and trends in innovation in both the Asia and Gulf regions. Guest: Brandon Rowberry Host: Dr. Sudha Pathak Producer: Taylor Johansen

On March 11th, 2020 a global pandemic was declared. Almost overnight, people went from buzzing around cities to staying in their own homes, under lockdown. Many worldwide healthcare systems mandated the cancellation of non-essential or elective services and most healthcare organizations pivoted to virtual care options, where possible. Maple is a Canadian telehealth company that predates the pandemic but experienced monumental growth as a result of it. This episode details Maple’s services, the telehealth landscape in Canada, and discusses how recent circumstances have nudged the Canadian government to evolve its universal coverage policy to enable better access to virtual healthcare. Guest: Lana Majid Host and Producer: Taylor Johansen More information: www.getmaple.ca

COVID-19 disrupted operations at hospitals across the world, requiring managers to rapidly implement new digital tools and transformations to support changes in system operations and service delivery. This episode offers insights about how the Cleveland Clinic—a global health system with facilities in the US, UK, UAE, and Canada—implemented “years worth of automation and digitization in just 2 weeks”. Listeners will hear from the Cleveland Clinic’s enterprise Chief Information Officer, who will describe the system’s experience transitioning to virtual care, offer best practices for designing and implementing system-level changes in IT, and identify key post-pandemic trends in digital health and health care innovation. Guest: Matt Kull Host: Kushal Kadakia Producer: Taylor Johansen More information: https://www.intelligentautomation.network/transformation/articles/digital-transformation-by-fire

Most countries put forth significant efforts to identify positive COVID-19 cases, recommend quarantine practices, and aim to flatten infection curves in an effort to keep hospital intensive care units afloat.  But what happens to the people who contracted COVID-19 but then recovered from the illness? This episode describes Post-Covid Care Clinics in Portugal. Digital technologies such as wearable devices for telemonitoring and telehealth solutions allowed clinicians in Portugal to undertake integrated follow-up of COVID-19 survivors - an innovation that is certain to shed light on what kind of medical care may be necessary in the coming years.   Guest: Miguel Rico      Host: Leandro Luis      Producer: Taylor Johansen

During the combat of COVID-19, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has leveraged innovation and technology to respond quickly to the fast-changing pandemic situation. Making use of the geo-fencing technology, the locally developed “StayHomeSafe” home quarantine system was launched in March 2020 and monitored over 600,000 people arriving in Hong Kong during their mandatory quarantine period. The Government also launched the “LeaveHomeSafe” mobile app in November 2020 to facilitate contact tracing for community transmission. The principle of “Privacy by Design” was adopted and there were over 6 million downloads. This episode highlights the development of each of these mobile applications and discusses how the Government of Hong Kong overcame challenges such as high density population and privacy assurance. Guest: Kingsley Wong Host: Dr. Christy Lam Producer: Taylor Johansen More information: https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/stay-home-safe.html; https://www.leavehomesafe.gov.hk/en/

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged health authorities and hospitals around the world; from swab testing to contact tracing, from quarantine management to shifts in hospital operational management. Many traditional processes and tools have been inadequate in tackling these challenges, which has led to the rapid development of new technological solutions and related procedures. In this episode you will hear about how a combination of three key technological solutions has helped Tampere University Hospital in Finland in the fight against COVID-19. Guest: Dr. Ville Kaila Host: Taylor Johansen Producers: Taylor Johansen, Emil Ackerman

Working towards eradication of COVID-19 is a global effort and while many countries have made great gains in vaccination coverage, it is important to recognize that access to medicine and medical record keeping is often more challenging in developing nations. This episode highlights eVAS, an end-to-end digital vaccination administration system that has been developed specifically for use in developing countries. Guest: Dr. Sampada Deshpande Host and Producer: Taylor Johansen More information about eVAS: www.samsotech-id.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/sampada-deshpande-dds-2692a592/