Curriculum Development

• Develop a curriculum for a master’s degree program in health services management and gain Ministry approval and official accreditation.
• Develop and offer courses in health services management to students of medicine and nursing, including short courses for health care practitioners.
• Develop and test educational materials for use in management education, including theoretical and applied materials.

Nursing

• Include a nursing component in the development of the health services management masters program, with a view to improving the status and role of the nursing profession in the Czech Republic.

Faculty Development

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

Information Dissemination

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

• A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in February between Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Palacky University.
• VCU faculty jointly conducted a Curriculum Development Workshop with University of Nevada faculty in February. Sixteen professors and health care professionals attended, representing Palacky University and the Czech institutions from the Bohemia-Nevada partnership.
• Partnership nurses attended the first meeting of the CEE Nursing Task Force in Budapest, Hungary in April. The meeting successfully created new bonds among the nurses, who learned that they share many common challenges, most notably in the areas of nursing education, in-hospital practice of nursing, economics and resources, and nursing as a profession. In a brainstorming session, the nurses identified these areas for improvement, and they formed small discussion groups to refine ideas for an action plan.
• 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.
• VCU and University of Nevada 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 from Slovakia and Hungary attended.
• In June, 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 September, an Information Coordinator from Palacky University attended 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 at the workshop. The curriculum also covered 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" group exercises to emphasize the need to make Internet access universally available at the partner institutions.
• In October, a Czech partnership representative attended the first annual meeting of the Health Services Management Training Center at Semmelweiss Medical University in Budapest, Hungary. The conference was entitled "Health Care Management Development in the Post-communist Countries." Thirty-five health care professionals and government officials from Hungary and the Czech Republic attended.
• Two faculty members from VCU conducted training workshops at the Palacky University Medical School in October. The training-of-trainers workshop focused on issues such as instructional approaches to course design and delivery; instructional strategies; designing the classroom; and training logistics. Fifteen participants from the Department of Social Medicine and Health Administration and the new Institute for the Theory and Practice of Nursing attended the workshop. The faculty also conducted a management training workshop where they addressed issues that included the functions of management; influencing management culture; leadership and decision-making; management change; strategic planning; and financial management. Twenty-five participants, including faculty, medical and nursing students, and practicing managers, attended the workshop.
• In November, VCU faculty conducted a second Management Training Workshop at Palacky University. Topics included data collection and information systems; health care quality; human resources and strategic management; and leadership and supervision. Twenty-eight medical and nursing students, faculty, and medical practitioners attended the workshop.
• AIHA supported the opening of a Learning Resource Center at Palacky University in December. The Resource Center provides access for students and faculty to modern management literature and research through the internet.

• Five Czech partners and two VCU faculty participated in AIHA’s 2nd Annual Conference in Zagreb, Croatia in May. The theme of the conference was "Evidence-Based Medicine." After the conference, they visited their partners in Olomouc and continued their work on curriculum development. They met with the Deputy Minister of Education and discussed accrediting the new curriculum.
• 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."
• In May, the partners attended the Nursing Task Force and AIHA Second Partnership Conference for CEE in Zagreb, Croatia. The nurses shared reports of their partnership activities and participated in lectures on nursing education, nursing management, and home care/hospice. The Zagreb 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.
• In September, five representatives from VCU visited their counterparts at Palacky University for a partnership Graduation Ceremony. Partners presented on the results of the partnership, especially the new graduate program in Health Care Management. Approximately 80 representatives of the partnership, USAID, and AIHA attended the event. The Rector of Palacky University presented University Commemorative Medals to representatives of VCU and AIHA for their involvement in and dedication to the partnership. The partners also participated in videoconferencing between Palacky University and VCU in which the two University Presidents held discussions on expanding the cooperation between their institutions.
• Also in September, the partnership underwent a peer review evaluation. The review team consisted of a Romanian HME partnership representative and an evaluation expert from AUPHA. Aside from providing feedback to the partnership, the peer review process allowed the Romanian representative to learn from the experience of the Richmond-Moravia partnership.
• 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 health policy efforts in both the US and CEE contexts, discussed general policy analysis issues 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 November, the Academic Senate and the Scientific Council of Palacky University approved the master’s program in Health Care Management that was developed through the partnership. The university’s approval was the initial step in the accreditation process.

• In January, Information Coordinators from Palacky University and the Postgraduate Medical School, a Nevada-Bohemia partnership institution located in Prague, 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 are planning to hold more advanced training sessions for the group in the future.
• In March, Richmond-Moravia 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.
• In April, a textbook by the Chair of the Department of Health Administration at VCU, entitled Analysis and Evaluation of Health Care Systems, was published by the Palacky University Publishing House in the Czech Republic. The book is currently being used as a text in the master’s degree curriculum.
• 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.
• 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.
• The Information Coordinator from Palacky University participated in AIHA’s third annual training workshop for Information Coordinators from the 36 AIHA-supported 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 Czech partners 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.
• Also in September, the partnership officially opened a Nursing Resource Center (NRC) at Palacky University. The center was equipped by AIHA with computers with Internet access, audio-visual equipment, and training and educational materials, and is designed to enhance nursing education and training. Fifty-five health care professionals, including nurses, faculty, physicians and representatives of the Ministry of Health and local government attended the opening ceremony. One US nursing partnership representative also attended, and presented on Why Nurses Should Conduct Research. The presentation was particularly pertinent because nursing research is relatively unknown in the Czech Republic.
• Over the past two years, the Moravia-Richmond partnership has conducted a series of video-teleconferences that have enabled the partners to continue their collaboration beyond the official end of the partnership. Issues addressed in these meetings and seminars include curriculum development, team building and leadership training.
• In October, the first class of students was admitted to the master’s program in health services management at Palacky University.

Curriculum/Faculty Development

• The partnership collaborated in designing a new curriculum for a graduate program in health services management. The proposed curriculum was submitted to the Czech Ministry of Education in the summer of 1997 and approved in the spring of 1998, authorizing Palacky University to offer a master’s degree in health administration through its medical school. Previously, the medical school could only grant doctorates in medicine. Palacky University offered the master’s program to students for the first time in October 1998.
• The partnership received high praise in its peer review, particularly regarding the development of the new curriculum for the Master’s degree, the introduction of the nursing management component, and the partnership’s efforts to co-opt practitioners into the educational process. The evaluators believed that the partnership’s faculty development efforts and the health management education resource center would ensure the future sustainability of the partnership.
• The partnership developed three courses in nursing administration, which are included in the master’s program in health services management.

Nursing

• The Institute for the Theory and Practice of Nursing gained official recognition as a separate institute at Palacky University. Although the nursing faculty had developed the Institute independently of the partnership, participation in the AIHA program helped validate the Institute when governmental approval had become stalled.
• The partnership developed a Nursing Resource Center (NRC). The NRC houses computer equipment and educational materials, which are available to nursing faculty and practitioners within the community.
• The nursing faculty became aware of more perspectives as a result of their visits to the various sites in the United States; they then raised questions about their own practice and teaching. The nurses demonstrated the ability to make presentations at AIHA’s Nursing Task Force meetings and the Annual AIHA meetings in Central and Eastern Europe; they had never had the opportunity to do this before. One of the nurse managers who visited the US made changes in the way the units she supervised were organized and managed as a result of the knowledge she gained.

Information Dissemination

• A textbook entitled Analysis and Evaluation of Health Care Systems authored by Dr. Thomas Wan at VCU, has been translated from English to Czech and published by the Palacky University Publishing House. This book will be used as a textbook in the new health management program at the University.

Other

• Through leadership training and team-building workshops, the partnership has assisted Palacky University in building a bridge between practitioners and educators that will ensure a more relevant and up-to-date health management education curriculum.
• Partnership representatives from Palacky University developed close professional ties with other AIHA partnership institutions, including those in neighboring Slovakia. In particular, they have forged a broader partnership with institutional members of the Bohemia-Nevada partnership and have jointly applied for a health management education grant through the Czech Ministry of Education.
• In March 1998, a new health management project involving the two graduated Czech partnerships (Olomouc/Richmond and Bohemia/Nevada) 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.