Heritage Snapshot: Part 244

LOMA LINDA >> In recent years the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in Hangzhou, China, has maintained a steady increase of 20 percent in the number of visiting scholars, which has laid a solid base for bi-directional international communications; an influence that has greatly promoted quality medical care and service. The success of the institution has not gone unnoticed in China and abroad. The political and economic progress China has enjoyed over the last decade has contributed to the success of the institution. The new millennium saw a China that was embraced by the World Trade Organization in 2003. Additionally, economic growth along the East Coast of China has contributed significantly to the improvement of the local economy, which has led to the overall advancement of health care and the steady financial viability of SRRSH. Under Loma Linda University’s startup management and 23-year collaboration, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital became a Chinese health-care pioneer not only in dental hygiene, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, nurse management, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, family medicine, and teamwork, but also it became a pioneer in laparoscopic (or minimally invasive) surgery and implant dentistry. It is the first Chinese hospital to reduce the use of intravenous antibiotics. And it now has the lowest use of antibiotic medication than any other hospital in the province. Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital not only became the cleanest hospital in China, but also first with hot and cold running water 24-hours-a-day, the first with air-conditioning, and the first to change bedding every day. In 2012, internal medicine and family practice residency programs, under the auspices of Loma Linda University Medical Center, began at SRRSH. SRRSH has implemented an electronic (paperless) orders and wireless medical network, making data entry quick and standardized. This has resulted in easy access to clinical data and diagnostic information, which has greatly improved work efficiency, simplified care processes and advantageously reduced medical errors. A Physical Examination Center promotes early detection, leading to early intervention. It also provides knowledge for patients on how to achieve a healthy lifestyle. SRRSH’s overlap of specialties in its multi-disciplinary approach enhances the level of diagnosis and treatment. For example, laparoscopic surgery involves General Surgery, Gynecology, Urology, Thoracic Surgery, Head & Neck Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, and Surgical Oncology. The percentage of minimally invasive operations is 50-60 percent of total surgeries. In ophthalmology, SRRSH has taken the lead in China, and ranks at a high level worldwide, in the diagnosis and treatment of keratopathy. It has obtained two national invention patents and won national awards in Zhejiang’s Innovation Award in Medicine and Health. Its Ophthalmology staff has published nine scientific papers and obtained two national science grants. An outstanding member of its Department of Ophthalmology was invited to participate in the compilation of American textbooks of Ophthalmology. As a leading health-care institution in China, SRRSH advocates a unique learning atmosphere. Its managerial team members are encouraged to take any opportunities to expand their management knowledge and skills. Management classes are offered periodically so that skills needed for effective leadership are attained. Besides leadership training, all medical staff are required to take continuing medical education to ensure excellence in health-care delivery. In recent years, SRRSH has opened its International Service Clinic and become the appointed medical care organization for 14 international insurance companies. The institution has also signed contracts with foreign family medicine physicians and dentists, which has greatly improved its competitiveness in providing health care to foreign patients. More than 2,000 patients a year come from the United States, France, Australia, Japan, and Norway. Student physicians have visited from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, India and Hong Kong for elective rotations. SRRSH has become an international rotation site for Loma Linda University students and Medical Center resident physicians. A hospital brochure outlines the hospital’s oversight and achievements: “Under the watchful care of the provincial government, the provincial health bureau and leadership at all levels of Zhejiang University, and with Loma Linda University’s selfless help, in addition to social support from all walks of life, the hospital has modeled itself after American management principles since its inception in 1994. [Since then], both meaningful exploration and accumulated experience have resulted in perfecting a complete framework and methodology of administrative and clinical practices appropriate for China’s condition, while being deeply reputed as the ‘Shaw Hospital Model’ by our fellow health-care colleagues.” The hospital is also known throughout China as “The Shaw Phenomenon.”