Our guiding principle
To us it is of upmost importance to recognise, take seriously and fulfil the needs and wants of our customers.
Our most important customers are our patients and reconvalescents in hospitalised, day-care or outpatient treatment. We focus our work on their needs as recipients of medical and rehabilitative services. We see our customers as mature and valuable partner whose cooperation and confidence contributes to the success of either treatment or rehabilitation measure. We strive for always respecting and preserving the patients' dignity and privacy.
In addition to our patients and reconvalescents, also other groups of customers and interested people are relevant:
- relatives and visitors
- established physicians and other assigning persons and institutions
- cooperation partner
- institutions and persons responsible for follow-up care
- cost units and insurance companies
- service centres of all rehabilitation carriers
- medical school of Ulm University
- people within the commuter belt
- self-help groups and patient organisations
- associates and supervisory board members of our clinic
- legislators and political opinion leaders
- occupational and professional organisations and divisions
- Suppliers and other service partners
media - and last but not least our personnel as our internal clients
The RKU's policy and strategy rest upon the present and future needs and expectations of these interest groups. To identify and fulfil the demands set by our patients, reconvalescents and other client groups, we make use of different tools, like for example regular standardised surveys and analyses.
We compare us and our performance to that of other health care facilities. Data and analyses form the basis for developing measures as well as for selective customer satisfaction management.
We endeavour to acchieve best performance in all fields. We do documentation and verify our work's results.
We evolve up-to-date, approved standards and treatment guidelines and adhere to these. We compare our medical, care-related, therapeutical, diagnostic, rehabilitative and economic performance to that of other comparable facilities and take part in internal and external quality assurance and qualification actions.
Scientific work (research and science) is a basic tool for quality assurance and quality development in the RKU.
We always strive to permanently improve our work irrespective of the area concerned.
The EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) quality management system-based and regularly executed self-evaluation forms the basis for targeted, cross-section quality management, where interdisciplinary quality circles and teams deal with projects aiming at optimising our economic and medical range of performance. Clinic management was trained in quality management and EFQM, they actively and personally participate in optimisation efforts and foster corporate personnel activities.
Quality in a hospital is always the result of processes according to division of labour. The people involved in these processes act cross-sectionally as a team, their cooperation is marked by broad-mindedness and openness, they learn from experience, look for solutions together and are responsible for the overall quality of the process.
Clearly defined objectives and responsibilities give structure to our processes. They become transparant by documenting. By checking these processes within quality management and getting feedback on results and target leverage permanent improvement of process quality is ensured. Evaluation is applied here for checking the processes, too.
We do our upmost to maintain, develop and foster the abilities and skills of every member of staff.
Further training, education and advanced training rank high within the RKU. Maintaining and expanding professional competence comes first, here in particular adapting the processes to the medical, care, rehabilitative, technical and economic developments. Concurrently, advanced training focusses on the promotion of social as well as methodical competences.
Our members of staff are our most important resource. If they feel satisfied, this directly affects client satisfaction. Thus, our personnel is questionned every two years whether they feel satisfied about important working motivations and working conditions. The results of the inquiry are taken to targetedly initiate actions for maintaining and improving personnel satisfaction. Structured staff appraisals which are held on a yearly basis constitute a further vital instrument for personnel orientation and appreciation. While they serve as development, motivation and promotion talks, they also aim at agreeing on and checking common objectives.
We want to work efficiently and economically, thus carefully handling our resources.
We need to get along with resources getting scarcer. At the same time we need to ensure effectiveness and competitiveness in order to safeguard the future of our clinic as well as our personnel. Our actions are marked by their forward-looking, in-line-with-the-market and demand-oriented manner. We apply modern techniques and methods of business economics, like for example budgeting, outsourcing, cooperation. Together with other facilities, we benefit from the know-how and the services of the Sana group. All potential activities incorporate and consider social, legal and environmental aspects.
Every action resulting in greater efficiency allows for increasing our patients' and rehabilitants' benefits By economically handling resources, activities and projects can be supported which are not indispensable from a medical point of view, but which have their ethical, social and moral justification.
Collaboration in our clinic rests upon communication and information.
We expressly and deliberately encourage communication with all our target groups, in particular and first place the communication between patients and personnel, though. Our communication is open, friendly and respectful. Other opinions are accepted. Communication and information are of strategic importance to the RKU and thus belong to the managerial responsibility on overy level. It is impossible to delegate personal information and communication.
Like all executive duties, communication and information require time and knowledge. Concerning these topics, the RKU offers support and assistance, there making use of different media, like i.e. direct dialogue, written or electronic messages and events. In principle, every staff member is obliged to autonomously get informed as well as add to open communication and information.