The Amsterdam Clinical Automation Conference
Automating a clinical laboratory is complicated and expensive.
Economy
Outsourcing as part of hospital IT optimisation
The trend towards consolidation of healthcare services across a hospital, and across hospital groups, leads to the segmentation between core competences and those services that may be handled more efficiently by a third party.
The importance of strategic partnerships
The healthcare system is in a phase of transition - from planned economy to free market economy. Competition is becoming a challenge. Only entrepreneurs and enterprises that develop creative strategies will stay on top - or make it to the top.
Uniting the lab and radiology
Healthcare is in a dynamic state of change — and so is the healthcare industry, in which there is an increasing trend towards integrating scientific disciplines.
The 23rd annual EAU Congress
The Milano Convention Centre (MIC) is the largest of its kind in Italy. Certainly that space will prove valuable this March, when 9,500 urologists from 100 countries attend the 23rd EAU Congress, the second biggest of its kind in the world. Apart from attending the congress and related trade fair, they may also glimpse Milan's many attractions: the cathedral, La Scala, Sforza's Castle, or even…
Launching a brand new hospital?
A newly constructed 220-bed hospital, with 11 operating theatres, an entirely new IT infrastructure and with 1,200 employees, all fully operational and able to provide a comprehensive range of clinical services from day one - impossible?
FUNDRAISING
When the Oxford Radclife Hospitals NHS Trust invested £109 million in its new Oxford Children's Hospital, funding for certain special embellishments could not be contemplated. Thus a £15 million Campaign was launched to enable the hospital to be built and equipped far beyond the NHS standard. £13.8 million of that target has so far been received. Who raised that astonishing sum? Its…
How to afford state-of-the-art technology — and not go bust!
When Philips Healthcare looked at today's crucial cost containment challenges that hospitals face, we decided to support them by taking more operational responsibility and sharing some of their business risks. As a result, we don't just ask "Which technology would you like to buy?"
Lab Tests Online - information for the European population
During the formal launch ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, representatives of the European Commission acknowledged Lab Tests Online as a valuable patient-centered website, providing health information that meets the highest quality standards. Approximately 1.5 million users visit the non-commercial, peer-reviewed website each month to access accurate, reliable and easy to understand information…
Is Lean right for your organisation?
By Maria Foster, Managing Director, Whitebridge Associates, Pittstown, NJ
High-tech 'dacha in the woods' to treat Ukrainian children
UK, France & the Ukraine — In the spring of 2006, Kateryna Yuschenko, Head of the Supervisory Board for the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation, and wife of the president of Ukraine, laid a capsule at the site of a future hospital — The All-Ukrainian Mother and Child Healthcare Centre.
Labs are vital
Labs are Vital is a global initiative managed in the United Kingdom by a steering group that includes the Royal College of Pathologists, Association of Clinical Pathologists, Association for Clinical Biochemistry, Institute of Biomedical Science, British In Vitro Diagnostics Association and Abbott Diagnostics.
Specimen preparation - Leica expands product portfolio
Recently in February, Leica Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany, acquired Bal-Tec AG, Liechtenstein-based manufacturer of optical instruments. This transaction will allow Leica to expand its product portfolio for EM (electron microscopy) specimen preparation significantly.
Vienna about to reorganise its hospital landscape
Vienna is facing comprehensive restructuring of its hospital landscape in order to accommodate the demographic changes in the Austrian capital city. Currently, in northern Vienna approximately three beds are available per 1,000 inhabitants, in western Vienna there are nine. It is planned to provide six beds per 1,000 inhabitants in Vienna by 2012/2013.
GE Healthcare expands expertise in mammography
GE Healthcare recently acquired Image Diagnost International GmbH, an IT provider specialised on developing integrated software solutions for mammography workflow and image processing. With this acquisition GE Healthcare expands its capabilities in offering clinicians and national screening services an even more expanded portfolio for the detection of breast cancer.
Merger Agreement between MEDRAD and Possis Medical
As announced today, MEDRAD, an affiliate of Bayer HealthCare and a leading provider of contrast injection systems used to diagnose cardiovascular disease, has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Possis Medical, leading provider of mechanical thrombectomy devices used to treat narrowed or blocked blood vessels. MEDRAD will acquire Possis Medical in a cash tender offer for US-Dollar…
Elekta to buy CMS
The Swedish radiotherapy and radiosurgery specialist Elekta is in negotiations to buy CMS, the St Louis, MO-based supplier of radiotherapy treatment-planning (RTP) systems, for $75 million in cash.
Working around the risk: How doctors deal with the danger embedded in the medical system
Risk is an inherent element of the hospital system and the resulting dangers are often normalised by medical staff to allow them to do their job, according to research by a University of Nottingham academic.
Austria
EH correspondent H-C Pruszinsky reports
Medical Care from Space
Since telemedicine is becoming increasingly important in many medical fields — from tele- homecare to disaster management — new technical solutions and applications are required. The European Space Agency (ESA) is actively participating in several projects across Europe which explore the potential of satellite communication technologies and associated connectivity services for telemedicine,…
Heparin-bonded uretral stent prevents bacterial encrustation
A new heparin-bonded uretral stent, developed by Cook Medical, is now available and provides urologists with an improved option for ureteral drainage. As a recent study from Italy shows, the heparin-bond prevents bacterial encrustation in long term insertion.
Industry specialists collaborate on the Asklepios Future Hospital Programme
In response to growing pressure on healthcare systems, Asklepios Clinics initially joined forces with Intel and Microsoft to establish the Asklepios Future Hospital (AFH) Programme.
The IT revolution
To meet an ever expanding demand for faster, more efficient healthcare delivery, and therefore better IT solutions, companies are in hot competition internationally. In an interview with Daniela Zimmermann, Dr Andrea Fiumicelli, Head of IT at Agfa HealthCare, discussed his company's aims and position in this vibrant healthcare market
Take off in the operating theatre
Engineer Stefan Wollschläger, a partner in Visality Consulting GmbH, Berlin, and Dr Gregor Zehle MBA, a senior consultant at GÖK Consulting AG, Berlin, discuss the benefits of a strategy transfer from the aviation sector to operating theatre management.
Clear goals — even though the priority is `family life´
A specialist in radiology and neuroradiology, Dr Birgit Ertl-Wagner is senior physician for teleradiology at the Institute for Clinical Radiology, in Grosshadern University Hospital, Munich.
