Richtungsweisende Ideen der „Kinderklinik Glanzing“ seit 1915: Quo vadis Kinderheilkunde

Since its foundation in 1915, the Children’s Hospital Glanzing has had many innovative medical directors, whose careers and scientific activities are described here in chronological order. Leopold Moll established substantial socio-pediatric initiatives such as “Kriegspatenschaften” (“war sponsorship organizations”) and vacations for poor children, as well as counseling centers for mothers in Vienna. August Reuss founded baby care wards and pediatrics departments. He established his own training for pediatricians. Alfred Rosenkranz established in 1974 the first Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Austria. In 1992, Andreas Lischka successfully introduced quality management (QM) to the Children’s Hospital Glanzing, one of the first hospitals in Europe, involving all hospital staff. The Childrenʼs Hospital Glanzing was the second European center to participate in the Vermont Oxford Neonatal Network (VONN) for the quality assurance of neonatal care. In 2000 in Wilhelminen Hospital, the first “baby hatch” was established for the anonymous abandonment of newborns without legal prosecution in order to give these unwanted babies a chance of survival (in addition to the possibility of an anonymous birth). Since 1999, music therapy has been offered at the neonatal intensive care unit in cooperation with the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (mdw). Publications on the toxicity of the plasticizer diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) in polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-containing medical products constituted the opportunity to establish a PVC-free neonatal intensive care unit. Promotion of breast-feeding especially for premature born babies has always been a particular concern of the Childrenʼs Hospital Glanzing. Pollution with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and furan in breast milk cannot be avoided; only a legal ban would lead to a reduction in these pollutants. To reduce the fear of hospitals in children, in 1994 the Childrenʼs Hospital Glanzing established a yearly summer children’s festival before the end of the school term, with more than 2,500 parents and children attending in 2007. Great importance was attached to the comprehensive education of prospective pediatricians in all areas of our specialty, which could be taught by rotation in our own department with many focal points. The current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic indicates the great importance not only of intensive care beds but also the training of sufficient medical and supporting staff.