Accident and emergency: international solutions

The Royal Irish Academy and the Beacon Hospital present an evening lecture and panel discussion, on Wednesday 2 November at 6:00 pm, focusing on effective international approaches to emergency healthcare provision and management. Two international speakers, Dr Niek de Wit and Dr Richard Zane, will discuss this topic in relation to the Netherlands and the US respectively. The event will be chaired by Mr Brian Fitzgerald, Deputy CEO of the Beacon Hospital.

Dr Niek J. de Wit - 'Emergency Medical Services in the Netherlands: efficiency based on primary-secondary care collaboration’. 

Niek is a general practitioner and Head of the Department of Primary Care at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands. In 2009 he was appointed Professor of General Practice and Medical Director of the Julius Academic Health Centers in Utrecht, where he coordinates the development and research on health care innovations in primary care. 

He is an active member of the College of General Practice, contributed to several guideline programmes and co-authored the ‘Future vision on general practice in the Netherlands in 2020’. He serves on advisory boards for the Dutch Research Foundation and the Dutch Health Council. In 2014 he was appointed to the Quality Board of the Dutch Ministry of Health.

Dr Richard Zane - ‘Emergency Care Redesign: a case study of the University of Colorado hospital’.

Richard is the George B. Boedecker, Jr and Boedecker Foundation Endowed Chair and Professor of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School Of Medicine, Professor of Health Administration at the University of Colorado Business School, Executive Director, Emergency Services, University of Colorado Health and Chief Innovation Office for the UCHealth System.

Dr Zane has extensive experience in designing and implementing systems of quality, emergency care, access, and clinical integration and has developed an international reputation for being able to apply modern industrial engineering and informatics practices to healthcare and science.  Dr Zane recently led a complete care redesign of the new emergency department at the University of Colorado Hospital. 

Dr Zane has been active nationally and internationally on issues related to emergency preparedness, surge, and weapons of mass destruction and recently authored the World Health Organization Hospital Emergency Response Checklist. 

A panel discussion will follow the speakers' presentations featuring Richard Zane, Niek de Wit and Susan Mitchell (Health Editor, Sunday Business Post).