[Strategies for digitalizing the hospital of the future]

Digitalization cannot be understood as an off-the-shelf product, bought as a one-time purchase in a warehouse. It rather requires a constantly developing vision, which comes with a continuous transformation process, hand in hand with strategic innovation management. Thus, digitalization means understanding the digital maturity level of an enterprise and the digital skills of the employees. Besides an investment in products, a successful digitalization process also necessitates consideration of the cost to release employees from their obligations in order to contribute to the process as well as for a dedicated and continuing staff training and education program. While digitalization in Germany is underdeveloped regarding both the national health infrastructure and the level of digitalization in hospitals, German clinics are recognizing more and more the importance of digitalization and are initiating digitalization strategies. In this regard, we can learn from our European partners, who have partially established advanced and innovative solutions. Looking into these flagship projects can help to see potentials and to identify valuable building blocks for our own strategy.