Better training could help
Internet-based training for clinicians could help lower antibiotic prescribing rates for acute respiratory tract infections by as much as 62%, according to British researchers.
Understanding parameters
Clinical chemistry influences almost all medical disciplines: most diagnoses are made or confirmed only after the laboratory has determined at least one or two parameters.
HES: class of drugs threatened with withdrawal of approval
Infusion solutions on the basis of HES (hydroxyethyl starch) are blood volume substitutes. They replace missing blood volume in patients with high blood loss, they stabilize the blood circulation and restore oxygen and nutrient supply to organs.
Carefully selected devices reward MHH with 50% cost cuts
In intensive care units (ICUs) little can be automated to relieve staff pressures – with the exception of point of care testing (POCT)
Diagnostics: Market trends
Nat Whitney, President of Whitney Research, sums up the ups and downs of the international IVD market and reports on a fitting finale for 17 years of dedicated service
New Benchtop Centrifuges from Beckman Coulter
The Allegra X-5 air-cooled benchtop centrifuge from Beckman Coulter Life Sciences is designed specifically for clinical sample preparation.
An international impact on immunoassay
Snibe, the Shenzhen New Industries Biomedical Engineering Company Ltd., is a leading Chinese biomedical technology company dedicated to developing and manufacturing clinical laboratory equipment and in vitro reagents. Founded 18 years ago and a growing force in the Chinese market, the firm is based in Shenzhen, China’s fourth largest city, situated in Guangdong Province.
From lab to bedside
908 Devices has good reason to be based in Boston’s Innovation District. A start-up founded in 2012, the company plans to disrupt the field of chemical analysis with what Vice President Chris Petty calls ‘ridiculously small, and elegantly simple’ mass spectrometry technology.
Moving mass spec into the clinical lab
Mass spectrometry has been applied in advanced clinical research and drug discovery and development. Continual innovations have created capabilities to address complex analytical challenges qualitatively and quantitatively with unparalleled speed, sensitivity and accuracy
Re-evaluating the multidisciplinary approach to cancer care
A 2012 study analysing the care of cancer patients in the USA in 138 Veterans’ Administration hospitals (pub: Journal of the National Cancer Institute) questions the effectiveness of tumour board review. The study measured effectiveness by comparing the presence of tumour review boards with stage-specific quality of care and patient outcomes.
Quality management in medical laboratories
Quality management (QM) for medical laboratories shaped its footprint during recent years – it’s a hot topic in papers, conferences and trade fairs. A lot of information makes a lot of work, says Dr Markus Neumann
China looks inward and outward
From the meetings between the Presidents of China and the USA came the slogan, ‘A new model of cooperation’. One item discussed was the proposed $4.6 billion purchase of a US pork producer by a Chinese company, which affirmed: ‘the acquisition won’t affect the quality of the bacon on stateside breakfast tables’.
EuroMedLab 2013
Milan, Italy – The 20th European Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine certainly lived up to its claim as the EU’s largest event of its kind – 2,407 visitors and 4,786 delegates from 101 countries plus 82 exhibitors fanned out or arranged themselves over the event’s 3,500 square metres, Hanna Politis reports
LEAN workflow analysis
This year’s EuroMedLab and IFCC-EFLM Congress came at a time when all hospitals face ever-increasing healthcare costs, aging populations and patients and GPs demanding more complex and novel diagnostic tests.
Faster sample analysis for UK and EU hospitals
Run by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the new automated Medical Laboratory at the Northern General Hospital has drawn a previously fragmented service into a purpose-built centre.
Quality control via round robin tests
If a parameter is determined with different test systems the results must still be comparable. This sounds simple, but is hard to achieve.
Milestone for Hemo Control Haemoglobin Analyser
EKF Diagnostics has recently marked the production at its manufacturing facility in Barleben, Germany, of the 33,333rd Hemo Control, its globally successful haemoglobin point-of-care analyser, since its launch in 2003.
Space: US exams come down to earth
Remote US examinations is not science-fiction; they are now available for real-time diagnostics.
"Excellence across Borders" fosters practical diabetes management
Bayer HealthCare supports local projects under the "Excellence across Borders" program in order to improve care of people with diabetes. Among the projects is a Diabetic School Awareness Program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is planned to start in autumn this year.
Smoking leads to five-fold increase in heart disease and stroke
Smoking increases the risk of heart disease and stroke by five-fold in people under the age of 50 and doubles risk in the over-60s.
Spanish Hospital presents its sepsis code at international forum
Hospital Marina Salud de Dénia presented its Sepsis Code at the National Health IT Conference and Exhibition, which recently took place in Birmingham, UK.
Strategic lab control
Managing physicians’ test requests is a key ingredient of modern lab management. However, doctors and nurses still do not provide the clinical reasons for orders to all labs.
Big Iron meets Big Data
Lab instruments are marvels of modern technology able to dice, splice and analyse microscopic specimens. Yet pushing the results into modern medical reporting systems is as slow, and often as painful, as pulling teeth.
Infectious diseases
Switzerland treads softly when it comes to governing its 26 independent-minded cantons. Yet, when it comes to electronic medical records, the Ministry of Health holds a particular power, not to dare to direct policy inside any canton, but for the exchange of data between the cantons
Point of care testing
Demand is increasing for point of care (POC) diagnostic testing, particularly for tests that help foster clinical decision-making within 30 minutes or less.
