"Some progress, but the big challenges remain". This was the verdict after the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) hosted the 2010 European Summit on CVD Prevention on 30 November. The summit was attended by a broad cross-section of medical experts, healthcare organisations, national societies, regulators and representatives from the European Union (EU). The aim of this bi-annual event is to…
COCIR* issued an easy-to-use tool to help determine whether software is a medical device or not. Since the revision of the European Medical Device Directive, in force as of 21 March 2010, the definition for medical devices also includes software used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. In December 2009, the European Commission decided to develop a European guidance document to clarify which…
Held every three years, a very important healthcare IT event is to be held in Europe after a gap of 14 years. From November 15-19, healthcare managers and suppliers from 37 countries will arrive in Milan to discuss the future of world’s electronic health services at the 16th Congress of IFHRO (International Federation of Health Records Organisations), held in collaboration with the WHO.
During the 2010 ESC meeting, held in Stockholm, new guidelines for myocardial revascularisation were handed down by a prestigious Task Force made up of representatives of both the ESC and the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons (EACTS).
One year after boldly launching a far-reaching programme for reforming France’s troubled hospitals a newly created French agency has surprised its detractors and created a way forward.
How to finance the healthcare system? It’s an ongoing dilemma, particularly for in-patient care. According to a German Hospital Federation (DKG) estimate, the country’s hospitals currently suffer an investment backlog of €30-50 billion.
Given that European countries have very diverse healthcare systems with special types of hospitals and even special information systems, comparison of healthcare systems and hospital performances is difficult. Thus, the first HIMSS Europe Leadership IT Summit, which took place in Rome, has provided a platform from which to discuss quality patient care based on IT and particularly the…
Facing the risk of an invasion by big international operations, French medical laboratories drew inspiration for their defence from a national hero - Asterix. While the newly launched reform of the French laboratory system will bring the traditionally independent medical labs into conformance with international quality standards, the law builds an elaborate defence against foreign operators to…
Today, healthcare professions make up ten percent Europe’s workforce. The EU Commission calculates dramatic shortages in healthcare provision in the next decade unless countermeasures are taken now. Thus, at this year’s European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), held in October in Bad Hofgastein, Austria, international experts discussed ways to make health employment more attractive.
EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli, presented some of his key health priorities today at the 13th European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG). Among the important topics on his agenda: prevention, in particular in the field of tobacco control; an appropriate framework for cross-border healthcare; and innovation in the field of active and healthy ageing.
The reprocessing of single use medical devices is well-established in Europe. However, questions about the risk for patients and users arise constantly. The European Commission presented recently a kind of risk survey. The report strikes German experts as basically accurate but unbalanced.
A Government White Paper on healthcare reform has caused Unison, Britain’s biggest public sector trade union (over 1.3 million members), to launch legal action against the Government ‘as a matter of urgency’. The day after the paper was presented in July, NHS CEOs were instructed by NHS CEO Sir David Nicholson to implement the proposals ‘immediately’ - without being given time to…
When Swiss orthopaedic surgeon Dr Marino Delmi, Past-President of the Swiss Foot & Ankle Society, Member of the Council of the European Foot & Ankle Society, and of the Scientific Foot & Ankle Council of the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology (EFORT), met with other experts in the field, three critical diabetes topics were explored.
The accuracy and reliability of medical laboratory examination results are vital part in healthcare delivery, and these plus the effective operation of laboratories are the main goals of laboratory managers. To ensure a high quality operation, medical laboratories have quality management systems and, through laboratory accreditation, show their competence.
More than 600 distinguished guests from 40 countries are expected at this year’s European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG). ‘Since its foundation in 1998, the EHFG has developed into an international meeting point for the highest-ranking healthcare politicians, managers and scientists from all over the world,’ said EHFG President Professor Günther Leiner.
Eucomed, the European Medical Technology Industry association, welcomes the European Commission's (EC) report on the reprocessing of medical devices. While remaining typically neutral in terms of action at this stage of the debate, the EC report confirmed that even with all the evidence and scientific opinion available "...it is not possible to quantify the risk associated with the use of…
Early problems of ultra-high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have been overcome by successful development of adequate hardware. In consequence big efforts have been achieved in structural imaging, as well in functional imaging. Basic scientists and physicians who work in ultra-high-field MRI in Europe and the USA, met at the Berlin Ultra-high-field Facility (BUFF), in the Max Dehlbrück…
Here’s a scenario: A bug has entered the system. Nobody knows how and what it is. What is clear is that, due to the problem with the imaging plate readout, the X-ray examination just carried out must be repeated. Who, in the hospital, is ultimately responsible for this situation?
The hosting service has been selected, software standards have been published, and on 11 December 2010 any French citizen will be able to open a file and begin creating a secure, personal electronic health record (EHR). If the agency charged with this ambitious programme meets the deadline, France will suddenly jump to the leading edge of e-health worldwide, rivalling advanced national programmes…
Specialist medical training programmes should retain some flexibility to help trainee doctors make the right career choices, according to a study published on bmj.com. Some UK medical graduates choose a specialty as soon as they qualify and others after a few years of postgraduate work. But changes to postgraduate medical training mean that junior doctors will generally have to make choices…
Since February 2008, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) has been trying to exclude short acting insulin analogues completely from reimbursement by the statutory medical insurers. Why? Insulin analogues are 30% more expensive than human insulin.
A change in political control naturally creates change in the way things are run, and the jaw-jutting ‘Get tough’ nature of the UK’s new coalition Government is palpable. For hospitals, one early change relates to data reporting on MRSA bloodstream infections and C. Difficile. Up to now, these were published monthly by the National Health Service (NHS) Trust; soon they will be published…
There are about 285 million diabetics worldwide, representing 6.4 % of the adult population (20-79 age group). According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) figures, the number is expected to reach some 438 million by 2030. While in the past, Type 2 diabetes was often thought of as a disease of the elderly, there is now a rising trend of Type 2 diabetes in younger age groups.
Neurosurgery has seen enormous progress, which should benefit as many patients as possible. However, according to Prof. Hanno Millesi MD, director of the Millesi Centre for Surgery of Peripheral Nerves, Wiener PrivatKlinik (WPK), a private hospital in Vienna, Austria, ‘methods are perceived incorrectly, because they are often confused with problematic predecessors, and sensible methods are…
In 2011 more than 30,000 hospital caregivers in 10 European countries will participate in an exchange of electronic patients’ records (EPRs) in the world's largest, first-ever cross-border connection of e-health systems. Brussels refers to this as a ‘large-scale e-health implementation’, and while it is easy to laugh about the bureaucratic language, it was the careful, go-slow approach of…