Munich hospital project on gender and culture in emergency medicine wins vdek prize

A München Klinik project that trains emergency care staff to take account of differences linked to gender and cultural background has won first prize in the vdek Zukunftspreis (Future Prize) 2026, awarded by the Association of Substitute Health Insurance Funds (vdek). The city's Health Department (Gesundheitsreferat) funded the development and pilot phase of the project, called "Culture, Sex & Gender in Emergency Medicine", and is continuing to work closely with it as it is rolled out further.

In emergency medicine, illnesses and symptoms can be perceived and can present differently in people of different genders or cultural backgrounds, and communication, diagnosis and treatment can also be affected by these factors. The project responds with an interprofessional training programme for all staff groups working in emergency medicine. The aim is to help them take greater account of patients' individual characteristics during treatment, strengthening patient safety and the quality of care while also improving patient satisfaction.

Thomas Hackenberg, head of the vdek's Bavarian regional office, congratulated München Klinik and the city's Health Department, saying the project "makes an important contribution to modern, patient-centred and gender-sensitive healthcare" and showed how better care could be achieved through greater awareness of individual differences.

The head of the city's Health Department, Beatrix Zurek, said: "Particularly in emergency medicine, where decisions often have to be made under great time pressure, sensitivity to such differences is of great importance." Dr Götz Brodermann, chair of the management board of München Klinik, said gender-specific medicine was firmly established at the hospital group and that in emergency care it was especially important to keep gender-specific and cultural differences in view at the points where the ambulance service hands over to the hospital, which is where the project's cross-professional training is focused.

The vdek Zukunftspreis has been awarded since 2010 on the initiative of the substitute health insurance funds' social self-administration. Each year, volunteer representatives of insured people and employers, elected in the social insurance elections, recognise projects and ideas that help develop and improve healthcare. This year's theme was "Gender-equitable healthcare". Further information about the project is available at https://t1p.de/MuenchenKlinik.