News • Global guidelines
Urgent changes needed to stop surgical infection
Wound infections are the most common problem after surgery, but promised innovations to tackle the issue do not work and global guidance needs changing.
Sponsored • Exhibition report
Healthcare technology innovations on show at CMEF Autumn 2021
Under the motto "new tech, smart future", the latest edition of the Chinese Medical Equipment Fair (CMEF) showcased technological innovations at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center. The 4-day event, which covered critical technology advances in AI, deep learning, big data, 5G and much more, also served to display the technological and economic growth in China, with…
News • Covid-19 & influenza
Will there be a twindemic?
“Twindemic” is a term that has not yet been in the headlines but is likely to become part of our lexicon as the summer progresses.
News • Lack of diversity
London: Discrimination against doctors from ethnic minorities
New data published by The BMJ show that white doctors applying for medical posts in London are six times more likely to be offered a job than black applicants.
News • Fighting antibacterial resistance
Continued COVID levels of hygiene could transform infection control
Making recommendations for change, academics analyzed global data into the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in urban areas—the rise of which is threatening the lifesaving role of the medications.
News • Nosocomial infection prevention
Improving hospital hand hygiene compliance with smart measurement system
Water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services provider Ecolab launches its Hand Hygiene Compliance Measurement (HHCM) System, a digitally connected technology to systematically monitor and improve hand hygiene in healthcare settings, across Europe. In healthcare settings, clean hands save lives. While the Covid-19 outbreak increased adoption of hand hygiene measures at first,…
Sponsored • Changing processes increased output by 30 percent
Streamlining and higher quality
Rein Medical, a leading supplier of customised all-in-one computer systems, high-resolution displays, customised OR wall modules and video and image management software solutions across Germany and Europe, produces high-quality, robust products. ‘To maintain these high standards going forward, the JVC subsidiary has enlarged and redesigned the warehouse and production area and optimised the…
News • Covid-19 and beyond
Safe transport system for infectious patients gets innovation award
Medical technology startup EpiGuard has received the 2021 Oslo Innovation Award. Presented during the first day of the of Oslo Innovation Week, the Scandinavian city’s annual technology festival, Ellen Cathrine Andersen, CEO of EpiGuard, collected the award from Vegar Andersen, advisor for the City of Oslo’s Vice Mayor for Business Development and Public Ownership.
News • Roadmap for Improvement
Inaugural Global Women’s Health Index
Hologic, Inc. shared the findings from its inaugural Hologic Global Women’s Health Index, the world’s most comprehensive, globally comparative survey about women’s health.
AI
FDA authorizes software to identify prostate cancer
The FDA authorized marketing of software to assist medical professionals who examine body tissues in the detection of areas that are suspicious for cancer as an adjunct to the review of digitally-scanned slide images from prostate biopsies.
News • Covid_19
France gets tough on unvaccinated health workers
Thousands of unvaccinated French health workers face suspension without pay under a new COVID-19 law that punishes people in care professions who refuse to get immunised against the virus.
News • SARS-CoV-2 in the media
Does 'beautifying' the Coronavirus make us underestimate its danger?
Colourful, 3D rendered scientific images are fascinating - but can they deceive viewers? New research from Spain suggests this might be the case. According to the study by the Instituto de Radio Televisión Española and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona conducted during the Covid-19 lockdown, black and white images of SARS-CoV-2 make the virus seem more infectious. The results, published on…
News • Battle against Covid-19 & other infectious diseases
WHO opens Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin
To better prepare and protect the world from global disease threats, H.E. German Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, have inaugurated the new WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, based in Berlin.
News • Experts on new IVD regulation
"We predict the loss of a large number of critical diagnostics"
MedTech Europe, the European trade association for the medical technology industry including diagnostics, medical devices and digital health, ran an industry survey, which shows an urgent, high risk to the availability of IVD medical tests once the new IVD Regulation fully applies.
News • United appeal
Climate change: 200 health journals call on world leaders to address “catastrophic harm to health”
'Unite behind the science' is an essential appeal from climate activist figurehead Greta Thunberg – and so they did: Over 200 health journals across the world have come together to simultaneously publish an editorial calling on world leaders to take emergency action to limit global temperature increases, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health. While recent targets to reduce…
Article • A painful divorce
Post-Brexit worries for UK healthcare
Brexit could have a potential impact on healthcare delivery across the UK, according to an expert in the field. Dr Hugh Harvey believes that will be particularly noticeable in the area of Medical Device Regulation (MDR), with the UK and Europe seemingly going in different directions on the subject after the UK left the European Union (EU) at the end of last year.
News • SARS CoV-2 B.1.621
WHO classifies Coronavirus "Mu" as new 'Variant of Interest'
The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken a closer look at coronavirus variant B.1.621. The strain, first encountered in January 2021 in Colombia, shows traits that could enable the virus to circumvent immune response to vaccination. As a result, the variant, named "Mu", has been classified as "Variant of Interest" (VOI). Despite its prominence in Colombian new infection,…
News • CRISPR and co.
Patent law could curb unethical human-genome editing
A new paper co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scholar who studies the legal and ethical implications of advanced biotechnologies outlines an unexplored tool to regulate the medically and ethically dubious practice of heritable human-genome editing: patent law.
News • Regulatory issues
Genetic data privacy, the GDPR, and research needs: a delicate balance
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has created a great deal of uncertainty about how key requirements should be interpreted. This means that collaborators in international genetic research projects do not always agree on fundamental issues such as whether they are processing personal data, consent requirements under the GDPR and on what basis genetic data can be transferred…
News • Patient empowerment
Should cancer patients participate in tumour conferences?
The goal of tumour conferences is to determine the best treatment for patients with complex cancers – however, the patient is rarely present. Now, a team of researchers has investigated whether cancer patients can benefit from participating in these meetings.
News • Public health worldwide
Sharing Covid-19 vaccines between nations: a mathematical approach
New research from the University of Oxford and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology uses mathematical modelling to determine the most equitable way to share vaccines between nations. Vaccines provide a route to achieving high levels of immunity against SARS-CoV-2 across populations, and provide a route to reopening economies, tourism, and livelihoods. However, vaccine resources amongst…
News • Compulsory coronavirus prevention
Should Covid-19 vaccination be mandatory for health and care staff?
Italy, France, and Greece have made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers, and England is making it compulsory for care home workers and consulting on whether to extend this to healthcare workers and other social care staff. Experts debate in The BMJ whether frontline health and social care workers should be compelled to take up the vaccine, if efforts to encourage them fail.…
Article • Women in medical R&D
Innovation depends on more than just technical skills
Cécile Geneviève is one of the few women who lead research and development (R&D) at a major company and her increasingly female team reflects women’s growing interest in the field. But while gender balance is an important criterion, it takes a broad palette of skills to innovate to alleviate pain for millions of patients, she explained in an interview with Healthcare in Europe.
Article • AMR Insights platform
Antibiotic resistance: a global problem in urgent need of solutions
Antibiotics have been at the heart of modern healthcare since the 1950s. They are prescribed prior to an operation to minimise the risk of infection after the operation. Or antibiotics are prescribed to fight an infection. This practice, which might seem straightforward at first glance, has proven to cause a number of problems itself: Over the last twenty years, it has become increasingly clear…
Article • Gender issues
Promoting equity for women in cardiology in the UK
A national network of mentors and female role models, created by the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS), aims to encourage women to become cardiologists and end male dominance and negative and sexist comments.