What does university medicine actually mean?
Vice-Rector Elgin Drda: Teaching hospitals treat very complex and difficult medical cases. As part of a tiered chain of care, university medicine is the highest professional authority. University medicine is always research-driven. A number of procedures, therapies and treatments are carried out exclusively at the Kepler University Hospital, such as new surgical procedures and operations in the field of cardiothoracic surgery. Patients at teaching hospitals benefit from the rapid availability of research findings that are put into everyday clinical practice. This means that patients can benefit from modern diagnostic and therapeutic procedures that are not - or not yet - available at other hospitals.

Many physicians are finding themselves pushed to their limit. How can they balance patient care, teaching, and conducting research?
Vice-Rector Elgin Drda: As undisputed as patient care is as a priority, at a teaching hospital, teaching and conducting research are just as important. The Johannes Kepler University Linz not only provides its physicians with interesting research funding programs, but also finances time to conduct research during work hours. The hospital, in turn, strives to create efficient structures, decentralize duties and responsibilities, organize flexible shifts, and implement internal relief measures. We can only consider ourselves successful in these endeavors once the university and the hospital functions well and there is a sense of partnership and collaboration. We have the best prerequisites in Linz.

How can we prevent a ‘brain drain’ and keep doctors in Upper Austria once they have graduated from the JKU's Faculty of Medicine?
Vice-Rector Elgin Drda: Students at the Faculty of Medicine first come into contact with the teaching hospital during their clinical internship. This is a time when initial relationships are forged and they build up a key network. Med students then spend the last year of their medical training (the so-called clinical internship year) virtually at the patient's bedside. This is a tremendous opportunity for hospital administrators to work on getting students interested in working in their departments. In this regard, the organization, work environment, pay, and scheduling certainly play a key role. Another pivotal factor in choosing a hospital is the fact that students can immediately begin their entry-level training right after graduation.