Professional patient approach stands out

11.10.2012 14:57

Springer Medizin won first prize in the “Best Patient Communication” category at this year’s healthcare communications congress in Hamburg, KommGe 2012, for its brochure “The 20 most frequently asked questions and answers about vaccinations”. Above all, the concept of the brochure was convincing, emphasized Siegmar Eligehausen, organizer of the congress and expert in the field of health care, on Tuesday evening during the award ceremony. “The publisher did basic research and the result is a model example of communicative cooperation between doctors, patients and editors,” is the jury’s justification for the award. In addition to the content of the vaccination brochure, the distribution mode was also convincing: the publication can be obtained free of charge from medical practices in order to pass it on directly to responsible and interested patients.

“Springer Medizin is very happy about this award,” explains Monika von Berg, Director of Public Healthcase and responsible for patient communication. She continues: “We have been consistently expanding this area for a long time because we clearly see the need to support doctors and pharmacists in their communication with patients. We use our excellent network with this target group to present valid information on the various topics.” The vaccination brochure is one of several publications from Springer Medizin. 'Vaccination protection for the whole family' is commissioned by the BZgA Federal Center for Health Education been created. In collaboration with doctors, it briefly and concisely publishes the most important questions and answers about vaccination protection, such as 'What diseases do you need to be vaccinated against?' or 'Which vaccinations are really safe?'

In addition to the best patient communication, further prizes were awarded in the categories “Best Campaign”, “Best Professionalization Idea” and a special KommGe award “Best Hospital Press Offices”. In total, those responsible for the congress received 30 applications, which were submitted from a wide range from the pharmaceutical industry to health insurance companies and publishers. The congress comes to an end today with over 250 communications managers from hospitals, health insurance companies, industry and agencies from the German-speaking area.