BG Unfallklinik Ludwigshafen

BG Clinic Ludwigshafen

Facts and figures at a glance

"To save and heal with the highest level of competence" 

Including with the highest levels of personal effort and commitment - this is the motto according to which the experienced doctors, sisters, nurses, physiotherapists and other medical experts look after their patients at the BG Trauma Clinic Ludwigshafen, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2008. In total, nearly 1000 people are employed here. 

Open to all 

The medical high-tech facility is open to all patients; not only after accidents in the workplace, but also in the event of sports injuries, osteoarthrosis and accidents/illness in the private sector. 
In the interdisciplinary out-patient department, care is provided for the ill and injured by a medical team which covers a range of specialisms. However, treatment is not only provided for emergency patients, but also for patients with planned operations: ranging from malalignment or joint damage via artificial joint replacements for hips, knees and shoulders right up to complex spinal surgery and plastic surgery/hand surgery procedures. Specialist clinic hours - just like Sports injuries - are equally part of our strengths, as are the integration of self-help groups and a wide range of out-patient therapy options. 

A specialist in many areas 

The BG Clinic has 454 beds. As a clinic with a special focus on traumatological injuries, it covers the demand in the industrial conurbation in the metropolitan area of Rhine-Neckar. Alongside the trauma surgery and orthopaedics, Plastic surgery, hand surgery and tumour surgery, the clinic specialises in the treatment of victims of spinal injuries, technical orthopaedics and intensive care, pain therapy and rehabilitation treatment as well as knee and hip endoprosthetics. The most state-of-the-art centre for surgical treatment of serious and severe burn injuries in Europe is also part of the clinic, as is an interdisciplinary spinal centre and a clinic for victims of irradiation injuries. 

For the fight against infection-related complications on bones, joints and prostheses there is an independent department for septic surgery within the BG Clinic, an outstanding competence centre which excels in its particular field and treats patients from all over Germany. At the start of 2009 an independent department for neurosurgery was opened. 
Every year, around 10,000 in-patients and around 20,000 out-patients are treated at the BG Clinic Ludwigshafen. The surgical teams carry out around 25,000 surgical procedures every year. 

Recipe for success: holistic therapy 

Our philosophy is to provide holistic treatment for our patients. For us, the rehabilitation process starts at the site of the accident. The ADAC rescue helicopter Christoph 5 which is stationed at the clinic flies rescue missions within a 50 km radius. The helicopter carries specially trained emergency doctors as quickly as possible to the accident site, and then brings the patients straight back to the clinic. Even after surgery, rehabilitation and physiotherapy - which is performed on-site at the clinic to the highest medical standards and with state-of-the-art equipment - the BG Clinic remains responsible for its patients. In the tradition of the German professional associations, social services employees take care of the professional and social rehabilitation of the patients. True to the principle of "rehabilitation rather than retirement", the aim of our work is to fully reintegrate the patient in his private and professional environment - with the best quality of life possible. 

The BG Clinic with its interlinked concepts covers everything under one roof. Whether prevention, acute treatments, out-patient or in-patient rehabilitation - the patients are looked after until the end of the rehabilitation phase. 

Comprehensive rehabilitation from acute treatment to recovery 

The body which is responsible for the clinic is the Verein für Berufsgenossenschaftliche Heilbehandlung Heidelberg e.V. (Heidelberg Association for Therapy and Treatment under the German Employer's Liability Insurance Association). 17 institutions of the statutory accident insurance companies are involved in this association. The BG clinic sees itself as a central service provider for the accident insurance institutions in all phases of rehabilitation and therefore takes a different approach to patient care. 
Relatively speaking, the clinic employs more doctors and care personnel per patient - this is because the top priority is to be able to get the patient back into professional life as quickly as possible. Against this background, the BG Clinic Ludwigshafen 2008 developed (as the first BG Clinic in Germany) the concept of medical/job-oriented rehabilitation (MJO rehabilitation), a concept in which the individual professional requirements of the patient are deliberately used as the basis for therapy planning. In its efforts to deliver better quality with reduced costs, the clinic works closely together with the professional associations and accident insurance institutions in many fields - including in the area of rehabilitation. 

Always at the cutting edge 

One of our main goals is to ensure that treatment we provide for our patients keeps pace with the latest scientific developments. For example, joint research teams made up of scientists from the University of Heidelberg and members of the BG Clinic work on trendsetting diagnostic methods and therapies. 

Another important foal is to provide top quality training for students and junior doctors. At our clinic, they have the option to obtain a doctorate with a research topic, or to qualify as a professor. 

Our research activities are mostly conducted in close cooperation with other institutions, particularly with the universities in Heidelberg and Mannheim. 

As part of a cooperation agreement with the University of Heidelberg, our clinic takes on duties among others in the fields of teaching, research and - in some cases - patient care in the specialist areas of trauma surgery, hand surgery, plastic surgery and surgery for burn injuries. 

Close links between the in-patient and out-patient sectors 

The BG Clinic is currently doing groundbreaking work to turn the political demand for closer interlinking of in-patient and out-patient care for the population into reality. In the immediate vicinity of the BG Clinic, the Rhine-Neckar Health Centre was opened in October 2010, which offers space for around a dozen specialist doctor's surgeries. In a close exchange between clinic and health centre, it is hoped that both sectors will be able to exploit synergies and that thus the patients will benefit from the closely-knit network. 

Certified quality 

The BG Clinic Ludwigshafen is KTQ-certified and was appointed in 2005 by the state government as the first Emergency Medical Centre in Rheinland-Pfalz. The School of Physiotherapy at the BG Clinic is also a guarantee for quality: as the first school in Rheinland-Pfalz, it was awarded the quality seal of approval of the ISQ (interest group for safeguarding the quality of training at German physiotherapy schools) in 2002. In 2009 the school was awarded the seal of approval already for the third time.