NMC's new president is Jill Crawford
The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) announced the new President of its governing Council: Jill Crawford has been a lay member of Council since 2002 and brings considerable knowledge and experience to the role.
Airflows fight hospital infections
Hospital infections are immensely dangerous. Toul Meditech has therefore developed a new mobile laminar airflow system which can be used in every operating room in addition to the existing ventilation system.
Better protection for nurses! - A global call to action
Provision of standard infectious disease precautions and safe workplaces for nurses all around the world are the main claims of a statement shaped during the International AIDS Conference by Physicians for Human Rights and the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.
Even experts sometimes need good advice
Acting as a medical expert witness can have serious consequences for third persons. Although expert witnesses are doing their best, many problems arise from their medico-legal work. Now the GMC published guidelines for expert witnesses that are welcomed by physicians and organizations.
Your senior doctor is watching you
Hiding behind a doctor's licence obtained years ago will no longer be tolerated in England. Senior doctors are asked to function as "responsible officers" who collect information about colleagues over a period of time. The new arrangement intends to examine the fitness of physicians every five years.
"Qualifying" is an urgent need in health biz
Michael Schumacher once won nearly every qualifying in Formula One. But Germany won't win the world championship in qualification of their healthcare workers, neither, however, would most European countries. The lack of well-trained employees in healthcare may turn out to be a major setback for the booming branch.
German healthcare system: lack of transparency
The German healthcare system is designed for corruption, since the its organisation is delegated to statutory health insurers, physicians' associations, etc. which are all self-controlled, says Anke Martiny from Transparency Germany in an interview with EH online. In spite of a whistle blowing system that was established in 2004, it still needs more transparency.
Frost & Sullivan: need for CV multi-modality platforms
A recent study of the market researcher Frost & Sullivan estimates that the market of CV Image Management Systems will reach $670 million in 2014. The reason: Evolving standards in CV care produce the need for platforms that integrate patients images and related information.
The 7th Villacher Hygienetag
Experts from almost a dozen European countries - including for the first time Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia - will meet at the Villacher Hygienetag (Hospital Hygiene Congress) in October to discuss "Antibiotic resistance - development, consequences and concepts".
Russia: Fight against HIV
Russia has one of the fastest-growing AIDS epidemic in the world. One reason for this development is unsafe sex of addicts. Therefore sexual behaviour should be considered as an important component in the treatment of drug-dependent people to stop HIV-transmission.
RFID technology may mess up medical equipment
Considered optimal transportation and identification tools, they have become a symbol for modern hospitals: RFID tags. But according to a new study radio frequency identification devices (RFID) may disrupt medical devices. Moreover, the FDA is concerned that the increase in digital technology might be dangerous for patients.
In vitro diagonstics market boosted by new technologies
The future of the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) market looks promising. According to a new analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Western European IVD Market is estimated to reach $12.65 billion in 2014. The reason: Diseases depending on an aging population, such as infections, hike the demand for automated diagnostic tools.
Recast of the Medical Devices Directives is “not needed”
The European Medical Device Industry associations resist the European Commission's proposal to build up a centralized European agency for Medical Devices. The new authority is planned to regulate MD affairs, e.g. classification and pre-market approval of “highest risk” devices. According to the MD Industry, the concerns of the EU Commission can be addressed through improved implementation of…
Britain: The big bug buster
The UK's MRSA rates have been declining since 2006 — and this year could be 50% lower than in 2004. This increasing control over dangerous pathogens has not been achieved without considerable hospital staff efforts, relentless public and government pressures on them, and in-house malcontent about the out-sourcing of cleaning work. Given the cost of nosocomial infections to patients, the NHS…
Nursing documentation meets legal requirements
Since 1988, all general hospitals are legally required to collect quarterly data for a Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS). The NMDS was revised from 23 to 78 items in 1997.
The Thermologger
The remote monitoring of the operating status of automatic bedpan washers has become possible with the launch of the Thermologger, made by Meiko.
Nosocomial infections in the USA
As nosocomial, or healthcare-related infections (HAIs), continue to escalate in the US, and protocols to manage this problem remain complex and confusing, surveillance healthcare IT systems offer hope to gain control of the situation. These offer the potential for data to be uniformly collected, quantified, and assessed. How rapidly they will be implemented enough is unknown.
ESGE-ESGENA
Endoscopic procedures, which are well established in the diagnosis and therapy of gastrointestinal diseases, not only carry procedural risks but also the risk of endoscopy associated infections.
Wound management in practice
Marie-Luise Müller is President of Deutscher Pflegerat e.V. (German Care e.V) Council, and Chair of its Congress, which was held alongside the Capital Congress on Medicine and Health 2008 in Berlin this June. During our interview, we asked her whether there is too little German medical and political recognition of nursing as a health profession in its own right.
Why European laboratorians benefit from the AACC Annual Meeting
When asked to write a brief note on why I found it important to attend the AACC Annual Meeting, particularly from the European perspective, my mind returned to the first time I attended an AACC meeting.
Highlights of the Iranian Society of Radiology
In the 30 years since the overthrow of its last Shah (1979) Iranian radiologists have been welcome speakers and research presenters at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR).
Nosocomial infections
Report: Mark Nicholls
Private medicine
Olga Ostrovskaya reports on the first St Petersburg medical forum Private medicine in Russia: Problems and ways of evolution, which took place in June. Organised by various medical associations, the main goal was to exchange experiences in private medicine and shape proposals to create a productive state policy in this sphere
Planning pathways to a peaceful end
People here have reached the end of their lives.
Medi-Clinic steps into Europe
Last August, when the South African hospital group Medi-Clinic Corporation acquired Hirslanden, Switzerland's biggest private hospital group, the company not only took its first step into Europe, but progressed its strategy for the geographical expansion of its core business — acute medicine 'in conjunction with superior nursing care'.
