AIGO raises institutions’ awareness of the effectiveness of territorial clinical networks – Viviana Persiani’s blog

On the occasion of the national course organized annually by AIGO, Italian Association of hospital gastroenterologists and digestive endoscopistswe are discussing “Emergencies in gastroenterology and digestive endoscopy“. In these situations, the doctor is required to …

AIGO raises institutions' awareness of the effectiveness of territorial clinical networks - Viviana Persiani's blog

On the occasion of the national course organized annually by AIGO, Italian Association of hospital gastroenterologists and digestive endoscopistswe are discussing “Emergencies in gastroenterology and digestive endoscopy“.

In these situations, the doctor is required to make decisions quickly to save the patient’s life. Adequate knowledge of the guidelines published by scientific societies and continuous updating regarding the most advanced diagnostics and main innovations in the therapeutic field are, therefore, crucial for the success of the medical intervention.

The national president of AIGO, Professor Massimo Bellini states: “The national course will also be an opportunity to dialogue with experts of the highest scientific level, but also to address organizational and infrastructural issues that contribute significantly to the efficiency of hospital management”.

AIGO is working at a national and territorial level to overcome some crucial issues with the aim of guaranteeing effective and efficient interventions that allow a homogeneous response to people’s health and care needs. We are working, for example, on a new network model for the management of emergencies for certain pathologies that allows for a better reception and management system for patients.

The director of Gastroenterology of the Asst Sette Laghi and head of the AIGO quality committee, Dr. Sergio Segatois expressed by proposing, as the key to ensuring an adequate level of care for patients, especially in emergency situations, theorganization of a healthcare system based on hospital networks at a regional level.

To demonstrate the validity of this solution, a recent retrospective study from the regional sections of Lazio of AIGO, Sied (Italian Society of Digestive Endoscopy) and Sige (Italian Society of Gastroenterology) highlighted that specialized structures and skills guarantee better results with a lower 30-day mortality in the case of patients with digestive bleeding admitted to emergency departments with greater resources.

Today, the clinical networks in Italy are 9regional and have been structured for some years on the basis of national indications. There gastroenterology is not among the mandatory networksbut in some regions this organizational model was established for diseases of the digestive system on the initiative of the scientific society and its professionals. “If the formalization of the process is a necessary moment to kick off organizational change, it is not sufficient to implement it and the risk that the reforms remain on paper is high,” continues Dr. Segato.

AIGO considers it essential to raise awareness among the institutions for real organizational change and an active commitment to ensure that the solutions identified are extended to all regions, using as a reference those in which a virtuous model has already been launched