“We must include Sahlgrenska University Hospital when we implement larger-scale changes,” writes Dean Olle Larkö in a column. He also affirms that the new focus assigned to the hospital during the year in which Barbro Fridén has been its director benefits the Sahlgrenska Academy.
The Reform Club is very much in the news here at the Sahlgrenska Academy. Its report was received favorably when presented to the Board of Directors recently, and all employees now have the opportunity to give their input at the joint meeting of the Academy on September 19.
Before we implement any major changes, we must remember that these changes may also have an impact outside the organization. For example, one of the proposals from the Reform Club suggests that we review our division into institutes. This is not really a new proposal – the issue has been topical since we created our current six institutes. The critics take the view that the institutes are too large; that it is difficult to gain a comprehensive grasp and that they are hard to manage. And I agree that the tasks of the heads of institute are not easy. This issue is now among those that are to be addressed and debated. My own role is to maintain an open view and to listen until the Board has reached a decision regarding the proposals.
But we must bear in mind that our division into institutes isn’t as much of an internal matter as you might think. Sahlgrenska University Hospital has structured its areas to resemble our institutes: area four can be linked to the Institute of Biomedicine, area 5 is almost identical to the Institute of Clinical Sciences and area, 6 resembles the Institute of Medicine. When the hospital created its organization, its intention was to emulate our organization to facilitate the cooperation between the hospital and the academy.
This cooperation has grown even better, if that’s possible, since the new director of the hospital took over the reins a year ago.
This cooperation has grown even better, if that’s possible, since the new director of the hospital took over the reins a year ago. The hospital now has a clearer focus on care quality, with the follow-up of how matters actually progressed for the patient gaining greater importance. This is positive for us at the Sahlgrenska Academy and fits well with our research on quality registers.
Not only has the Reform Club’s work resulted in a number of constructive proposals; in my view the process behind this has also been highly beneficial. Collegiate discussions have also been refueled. I believe that the efforts within the Reform Club have also increased the understanding of how our organization and operations work. And, by the way: don’t miss the joint meeting of the Academy on September 19. We will provide a lunch sandwich and, hopefully, good discussions between faculty staff.
Olle Larkö
