Health Management Network

• Create a network of health management professionals within the Czech Republic.

Curriculum Development

• Develop a bachelor degree program in health services management at the Faculty of Management in South Bohemia and the Faculty of Management and Information Technology in East Bohemia.
• Offer courses in health services management for students of management, pharmacy, medicine and nursing.
• Develop short courses in health services management for practitioners.
• Develop and test educational materials for use in management education, including theoretical and applied materials.

Management Teaching Skills

• Increase faculty capabilities in teaching methods and techniques in management education.
• Identify and develop faculty with management interests and capabilities to become teachers of health services management.

Information Dissemination

• Organize and actively participate in regional, national and multi-national programs to develop and share health service management knowledge and practice.
• Develop a resource center to support the educational needs of faculty and students.

• A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in February between the University of Nevada and the five Czech institutions, officially launching the partnership.
• University of Nevada faculty jointly conducted a Curriculum Development Workshop with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) faculty in February. Sixteen professors and health care professionals representing all five partnership institutions and Palacky University in Moravia attended.
• In April, seven Czech faculty participated in a Seminar on Managed Care coordinated by the largest for-profit HMO in Nevada. Topics included information management, contracting, quality improvement, and care coordination.
• The partners attended the first AIHA Partnership Conference for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest, Hungary. The May conference gave AIHA’s CEE partnerships, health ministry officials, and other senior health care professionals an opportunity to explore the progress and challenges of health care and health reform.
• University of Nevada and VCU faculty jointly conducted a five-day Introduction to Management Workshop in June. The workshop was designed to allow participants to gain experience in planning and developing introductory health management programs and curricula, and to increase faculty capabilities in teaching methods and techniques in management education. Forty-seven faculty from the two Czech HME partnerships, as well as faculty from Slovakia and Hungary attended.
• Also in June, five Czech partnership representatives attended the annual meetings of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and the Association of Health Services Research (AHSR) in Atlanta, GA. The AUPHA annual meeting focused on "Leadership for Community Health Partnerships," while the theme of the AHSR meeting was "Health Services Research: Implications for Policy, Health Care Delivery and Clinical Practice." In addition to providing a forum for the participants to learn new issues in health management, it allowed them to network with leading US officials in health management.
• In July the Dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine visited the Czech Republic as a mentor to practitioners identified as leaders in health management. A member of the US Licensing Committee for Medical Education, the Dean worked on accreditation issues with faculty members at the Postgraduate Medical School in Prague and the Military Medical Academy in Hradec Kralove.
• The Czech information coordinators participated in AIHA’s first workshop for CEE information coordinators in Tallinn, Estonia. AIHA staff provided training on the use of Internet applications such as Netscape and Eudora, copies of which were distributed during the September workshop, Web searching and Web page design. During the workshop, information coordinators started creating Web pages for their own institutions. AIHA staff also introduced the Learning Resource Center Project workplan and led "training-of-trainers" exercises to enable information coordinators to train others within their institutions on Internet usage.
• In November, faculty from the University of Nevada conducted the first in a series of three intensive Leadership Training workshops in Jindrichuv Hradec and Hradec Kralove. Thirty faculty members, students and practitioners participated in both workshops. The workshop focused on team building, communication, and general management skills.
• The partnership opened Learning Resource Centers at each of the five Czech partnership institutions. The Resource Centers provide access for students and faculty to modern management literature and research through the internet.

• The second Leadership Training workshop was taught in Reno in March for eight Czech faculty and practitioners who had emerged as leaders during the previous year. The group worked on developing skills needed to sustain educational programs and to form the necessary strategic alliances to assist them in this task.
• The final Leadership Training workshop in the series, conducted in May, focused on empowering Czech faculty and university administrators to function as effective change agents and provided support to enhance quality in health administration education.
• In May, the partners attended AIHA’s Second Partnership Conference for CEE in Zagreb, Croatia. The conference provided an opportunity for partners to share their experiences and successes through plenary sessions and partnership displays, concurrent workshops and seminars, and site visits to the Zagreb partner hospitals. Partnership representatives facilitated and/or served as panelists on sessions on measuring partnership success, health promotion, improving health care through patient/family education initiatives, home care and hospice.
• Following the Annual Conference, five faculty from the University of Nevada conducted a two-day Stress Management workshop in Prague. The fourteen participants consisted of students, faculty and practitioners from the Czech partnership institutions. The faculty taught on what causes stress and mechanisms for stress reduction.
• In June, five Czech partnership representatives attended the annual meetings of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and the Association of Health Services Research (AHSR) in Chicago, IL. The AUPHA annual meeting focused on "Technology Driven Decisions 2005" while the theme of the AHSR meeting was "Issues and Answers for Improving Health in the 21st Century."
• Also in June, three faculty from the University of Nevada and taught workshops on pedagogical strategies in health management education. The workshops were taught in Prague, Hradec Kralove, and Jindrichuv Hradec. Topics included leadership development, stress management, and quality issues.
• The Czech information coordinators attended AIHA’s third annual training workshop for Information Coordinators from the 36 Learning Resource Centers (LRCs) in CEE. Information Coordinators from the three Riga partner institutions attended the training held in Kosice, Slovakia in July. The main themes of this workshop were information management and sustainability of the LRCs. Participants learned about database design, improving time management, developing annual budgets, and generating internal and external sources of funding.
• The partnership Graduation Ceremony was held in Prague in September. The 55 attendees included representatives of the Nevada/Bohemia partnership, USAID, and AIHA. The partners also conducted an Education of Managers in Health Care seminar in Hradec Kralove in which participants presented various aspects of the new health management curricula at South Bohemia University and Purkyne Military Medical Academy. The delegates also conducted a Management of Health Services seminar in Jindrichuv Hradec which was attended by 65 health professionals.
• Five Czech and two US faculty participated in a Health Policy Seminar held in Prague in October. The seminar involved participants from all five of AIHA’s HME partnerships. Participants compared the status of health policy in both the US and CEE contexts, discussed general theses of policy analysis in the health sector, considered various approaches to teaching policy analysis skills, and discussed the use of comparative policy analysis as part of health management education curricula.
• In December, three "SMART" Classrooms were installed and Czech partners were trained in their use. SMART classrooms allow the use of Internet-based teaching materials and expand the capability of the Czech partners to encourage dynamic class discussions through the use of interactive displays and presentations.

• In January, Information Coordinators from the Postgraduate Medical School and Palacky University, a Richmond-Moravia partnership institution located in Olomouc, jointly conducted training sessions on practical applications of the Internet for fifty medical librarians and physicians from various hospitals in the Czech Republic. In response to the high level of interest of the participants, they planned to hold more advanced training sessions for the group in the future.
• In March, Nevada-Bohemia partnership representatives attended a health care workforce conference entitled Shaping the Infrastructure of Health Professions. This gathering of over 100 senior government officials, academic administrators, scholars and health policy decision makers was designed for extended discussion of issues related to the development of the health care workforce in the CEE, and the corresponding US experience.
• Also in March, a new health management project involving the two graduated Czech partnerships (Richmond-Moravia partnership and Nevada-Bohemia partnership) was initiated by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health. The project, entitled Complex System of Education of Health Managers, is supported with finances earmarked by the Ministry of Education for cooperation between Czech and American Universities. The project promotes sustainability of the US and Czech partnerships.
• Partnership nurses attended the third annual CEE Nursing Task Force meeting in Bucharest, Romania. This May meeting brought together over 45 nurses from all partnerships in the region to share accomplishments and discuss Nursing Resource Centers, nursing association building, and plans for future collaboration.
• The Faculty of Management and Information Technology supported a faculty exchange with the University of Nevada, Reno College of Business to begin a collaborative research project. In May, an assistant professor in Management and Computer Science traveled to East Bohemia and provided guest lectures to the students and developed a collaborative research agenda with the faculty.
• In June, three Czech partnership representatives attended the annual conferences of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) and the Association for Health Service Research (AHSR) in Washington, DC. The AUPHA conference focused on how new technologies are shaping health care administration, research and education, while the theme of the AHSR conference was implications of health services research for health care policy, delivery and practice.
• An Information Coordinator from each Czech partnership institution participated in AIHA’s third annual training workshop for Information Coordinators from the 36 Learning Resource Centers (LRCs) in CEE. The main themes of this workshop, held in Kosice, Slovakia, were information management and sustainability of the LRCs. Participants learned about database design, improving time management, developing annual budgets, and generating internal and external sources of funding.
• In September, five Czechs participated in a Case Studies Development Workshop in Bucharest, Romania. The workshop was attended by representatives of all five AIHA HME partnerships. At the workshop, participants learned how to develop and write case studies as a didactic approach to teaching health management issues and concepts.
• Over the last year and a half, the Nevada/Bohemia partnership has conducted a series of teleconferences. Issues addressed in these meetings include curriculum development, team building and leadership training.

Health Management Network

• The partnership created a forum for faculty members and practitioners to travel together, participate in workshops and other continuing education activities, and share ideas and resources. This collaboration created a critical mass of educators and practitioners committed to programs that would provide training in health management to a broad range of students. These professional relationships have been sustained even after the graduation of the partnership, and faculty from the partnership institutions frequently rely on each other for collaboration in teaching, research and resource sharing.
• The five institutions that comprised the Bohemia-Nevada partnership, along with Palacky University of AIHA’s Moravia-Richmond HME partnership, have sustained relationships with each other that did not exist prior to the formation of the partnerships. The institutions have been so successful in creating and maintaining a health management network that they obtained a continuation grant from the Czech Ministry of Health for a bilateral effort to further support health management education in the Czech Republic. In support of this objective, faculty from three of the former partnership institutions, along with representatives of the Ministry of Education, traveled to the United States in November 1998 to establish additional relationships with US institutions in health management.

Curriculum Development

• Prior to the partnership, the Czech partners had tried to implement a health management curriculum, but they lacked the critical mass of practitioners and educators to start the program. Through the partnership, the Faculty of Management in South Bohemia and the Faculty of Management and Information Technology in East Bohemia have successfully developed undergraduate programs in health management. In South Bohemia the program began in 1996, while in East Bohemia the first class of students was admitted in 1997. Each program has had many more applicants than it can accommodate. Both programs have been designed to admit current practitioners through the use of part-time and distance learning programs. Approximately 70 students are enrolled each year in these programs, most of whom are currently working in health care institutions in the Czech Republic and thus will be able to apply improved management practices immediately in their institutions.

Management Teaching Skills

• New pedagogical approaches were introduced through several training-of-trainers and health management workshops in the Czech Republic. Visits to the University of Nevada emphasized participation with U.S. faculty involving small group activities such as case discussion, problem analysis, and seminar presentations. There were eight trips to the US that involved 47 Czech faculty, health care practitioners, and health care administrators. In addition, US faculty who visited the Czech Republic often met Czech students in the classroom and led discussions or group exercises that further reinforced small group and other interactive pedagogical approaches. These activities resulted in a real change in classroom interaction, as noted by Czech students who participated in the evaluations of the partnership. As stated by a former partner and professor in their partnership self-assessment, "In teaching, there has been a dramatic change in the form of lecturing, from a monologue to a dialogue with students. In research, there has been a change from an individualistic approach to a team effort form of cooperation. In course preparation, we have even started cooperating with students and other organizations."

Information Dissemination

• The partner institutions have each created a Learning Resource Center for health management students and local practitioners. These resource centers provide access to the Internet, books and journals, and an information coordinator trained through AIHA. These resource centers have received heavy use and are reported to be a valuable resource for continuous improvement of health management knowledge and expertise.
• By attending a wide variety of conferences, seminars, and workshops related to health care and management, the Czech partners have gained insight and exposure to new ideas and approaches in health management. They have also established new relationships with health care professionals in the United States and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This exposure has led to a formal agreement signed between the partnership and affiliates of AIHA’s Slovakia-Scranton partnership to establish professional ties on a regional level.

Instructional Technology

• Following the partners’ December 1996 evaluation of instructional technology by media and technology specialists, AIHA upgraded instructional capacity of partner institutions through the use of "SMART" classroom technology. These SMART classrooms, which were installed at the Postgraduate Institute in Prague, in South Bohemia at the Faculty of Management, and in East Bohemia at the Faculty of Management and Information Technology, have enabled Czech faculty to incorporate Web-based information and other media into their lectures and demonstrations. Students in one institution can access material and instruction from faculty in another institution by use of the SMART classroom. Faculty at each institution report that these classrooms are an excellent addition for teaching health management as well as making information available from diverse sources. Student presentations, small group discussions, and lecture/demonstrations are enriched through the use of the technology. In addition, faculty can share each other’s instructional materials and expertise and make materials immediately available to their students. University of Nevada instructional media specialists traveled to the Czech partner universities to train faculty in the use of these new classrooms. In addition, Czech faculty who traveled to the US received training in SMART classroom instructional methods and technology at the University of Nevada.

Other

• Several promising projects have been started as a result of partnership activities. The South Bohemia University, Faculty of Management, proposed the first project in cooperation with the Academy of Sciences in the Czech Republic. Several projects supportive of the development of a multidisciplinary approach to decision-making in economics and management were funded by the Czech Ministry of Education. These projects will incorporate pattern-recognition techniques and operations research methods into the analysis of health management decisions. General research areas have been defined as: clinical decision-making, efficient hospital reimbursement, and the use of expert-systems in health management. Students and practitioners in health management are also involved with the faculty in these projects, and will learn the value of applied management research in health administration.

Additional Developments Since Partnership Graduation

• The Faculty of Management in Jindrichuv Hradec, which through the partnership had introduced a 3-year bachelors program in Management of Health Services, graduated its first 25 students in June 2000. The class of 2001 has 22 students, including 5 physicians.
• The Faculty of Management in Jindrichuv Hradec prepared a new baccalaureate program for non-physician health personnel, a new masters program in Management of Health Services for graduates of the baccalaureate programs, and courses for a new health care specialization at the Prague International School’s MBA program. In addition, the Faculty of Management has received two grants for work focused on optimization of hospitals.
• The Military Medical Academy in Hradec Kralove now graduates 4-5 students every year in the courses of Military Health Management. The cooperation between the Faculty of Management and Information Technology, the Medical Military Academy and the Pharmaceutical Faculty which started within the framework of the AIHA partnership continues to thrive. Professors from these universities regularly teach health management courses at all three schools.
• A partner from Hradec Kralove served as a faculty member at an AIHA-organized workshop on the case method that was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan in May 2000 for AIHA’s new health management education partnerships in the NIS and for Albania. The Czech partner was one of two former AIHA HME partners who presented on their experiences developing cases and using the case method in their health management programs which were begun under the AIHA partnership program.