Talking Healthcare International Hospital Federation

IHF’s Global Rare Paediatric Disease Network is a community for IHF members working in rare paediatric disease to share experiences and best practices to improve the services provided to children and their families around the globe.

In this episode, Barbara Walczyk-Joers, President and CEO at Gillette Children's Specialty Health Care sat down with Ee Shien Tan, head of Clinical Genetics in Care Women's and Children's Hospital in Singapore and Heini Kanervo, rare diseases coordinator at University Hospital Brussels.



In this engaging podcast, they discuss the challenges and opportunities for the adoption of AI in all aspects of hospital management. What are the specific considerations when it comes to rare paediatric disease? Tune into a fascinating discussion with members of the IHF’s Global Rare Paediatric Disease Network to find out.

This year, the IHF is bringing the 47th edition of the World Hospital Congress to the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Bringing to life the concept of "global learning, local action", this is the second time that Rio is hosting the Congress, which was last held in Brazil in 2009. What can healthcare leaders from the region, and across the globe, gain from participating in such an event?



In this special Portuguese-language episode, we invited Dr Adelvânio F. Morato, President of the Brazilian Hospital Federation, as well as the Congress Scientific Committee Co-chairs, Dr Graccho Alvim Neto, who is Director of the Association of Hospitals of the State of Rio de Janeiro, and Ms Gilvane Lolato, the Operational Manager at Brazil’s National Accreditation Organization, to share their reflections on the importance of leaders from around the world learning from each other, their insights into organizing the Congress – and to give us a taste of what attendees can expect in Rio.

Climate change has a direct and increasingly damaging impact on both the health of communities and healthcare delivery. Luckily, the healthcare sector has many opportunities to reduce its negative environmental impact while contributing to better health for all.

We have taken the occasion of Earth Day - 22 April - to record a special episode of our podcast focusing on the role of hospitals in relation to environmental sustainability, a natural fit with their leading role in their communities and as champions of health.

At the IHF World Hospital Congress 2023 in Lisbon, the plenary session on sustainability in healthcare triggered a lot of queries from the audience. In this episode, we are delighted to welcome two healthcare leaders who will speak at our IHF Congress 2024 to answer some of these questions, in particular:

Cost is perceived as a barrier, but does going green help to reduce operating costs and how do we ensure it is a budgeting priority?Often "sustainability" is viewed as an issue about buildings and energy - how do we balance the conversation to include clinical care?Data doesn't need to be a barrier: how can hospital leaders approach measuring and benchmarking as part of their strategy?

The IHF Awards dates back to 2015, when the programme was launched at the 39th IHF World Hospital Congress in Chicago. In this episode we featured Alder Hey Children NHS Foundation Trust, winner of the 2023 Excellence Award for Healthcare Workers Wellbeing - an award that recognizes outstanding achievements in ensuring the wellbeing of healthcare workers through innovative projects, programs or services. Alder Hey Children NHS Foundation Trust's winner programme stands out for supporting and offering care for all staff. It is a service that is led by staff for staff, using compassion as a framework.



Dr Lawrence Lai, Honorary Member of IHF, sat down with Dr Jo Potier, Associate Director of Organisational Development at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.



Listen now and be inspired by Alder Hey Children NHS Foundation Trust's commitment to connect people to each other and to promote a culture that helps staff thrive at work.

As part of our Big Data Roadmap - a roadmap that leads you step by step through the design and delivery of a strategy to use Big Data in your healthcare organization - this episode focuses on the key issues relating to data collection for hospital leaders.



Dr Sujoy Kar, member of the Big Data SIG steering committee sat down with Joseph Thekkath from the Joint Commission. Together, they adress questions such as what's the purpose of collecting data? How do you quantify it? What is the role of emerging technologies?



Listen to this episode to learn more about all of this!

International Women’s Day is celebrated on the 8th of March each year – a campaign to raise awareness of gender inequity issues.In this episode, Dr Sangita Reddy from Apollo Hospitals India sat down with Dr Sawsan Abdel-Razig and Dr Pascale Anglade, both from Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and long-standing members of the Women in Leadership SIG steering committee.

Dr Sangita Reddy shares with us some inspirational stories on how women's equity has come to occupy such an important place in her life. She talks about the importance of creating a strong and supportive ecosystem and of having a transformative purpose in life – among many other things.