Focus on IT and administrators' needs
This year, EUROPEAN HOSPITAL has produced three separate issues for this, the world's largest medical trade fair.
Medical developments and therefore exhibits continue to expand so we decided to take a divisional approach. In this issue, we highlight administrative and clinical organisational needs, as well as the efforts of IT specialist firms to meet their IT wants and wishes. Those who have visited the MEDICA meet.IT section will already know its value. Hard- and software manufacturers are displaying and demonstrating their solutions and successes in this exciting but often difficult to tackle communications science. Among their exhibits are systems to help speed up or control workflow for hospital administration staff and medical teams, laboratory workers and, further up the scale, are the complex imaging systems and audio/visual recording equipment that aim to provide superb quality, while also ensuring data are readily and correctly gained, accessible, stored, and combined as far as possible, within today’s advancement towards the electronic patient record and much else.
While much has been achieved, much remains to be learned for the future use of electronic communications in our hospitals.
To this end, the VHitG (Association of Manufacturers of IT Solutions for Healthcare) and Messe Dusseldorf again organised MEDICA meet.IT – The Forum. ‘This concentrates on the presentation of products made by our member companies,’ Dr Wolrad Rube, Chairman of the VhitG, explained. ‘We are offering companies the chance to present themselves through a user or technical talk within the framework of the Forum.’
The forum focus in Hall 15:
• Health delivery control (e.g. patient management; sector-overlapping medical care; treatment directions; workflow support)
• IT for nursing care (e.g. diagnostics and care services records; case management; hospital organisation)
• IT for general practitioners (e.g. telematic applications in medical practices; introduction of the electronic health card)
• Interoperability/inter-sector communication.
Also for the first time, a joint presentation is being given on hospital information systems (HIS) and medical practice. And, of course, there’s a broad array of other communications products, such as nurse-calling systems, dictation equipment and much else, in Hall 14.
Further details: www.vhitg.de and www.medica.de
14.11.2006
