News • Hospital germs
The reasons for different adhesion mechanisms of bacteria
Researchers have shown why hospital germs adhere strongly to surfaces from which water simply rolls off, but bind so poorly to surfaces that are easily wetted by water.
Hospital
News • Personal protective equipment helps
Risk of Covid-19 infection among hospital staff lower than expected
Contrary to expectations, the risk of COVID-19 infection among hospital staff at the height of the coronavirus pandemic was lowest among intensive care clinicians, reveals a study of one major UK medical centre, published in the journal Thorax.
News • Coronavirus
Discovery of four COVID-19 risk groups helps guide treatment
An easy-to-use score for predicting risk of death in adult patients admitted to hospital with covid-19 outperforms existing scores and can be used to support treatment decisions, finds a study published by The BMJ today.
News • Patient transport
Greek ambulance service EKAB acquires EpiShuttles
Generous donations made by companies and individuals funded seven state-of-the-art isolation pods for COVID-19 patient transport in Greece. The Greek ambulance service, EKAB, acquired seven top modern isolation pods, known as EpiShuttle, from the generous donations made to them.
News • Atrial fibrillation ablation
Superfast procedure to treat heart arrhythmia
A new procedure to correct atrial fibrillation (AF) has been performed for the first time in the UK last week at Leicester's Hospitals. AF affects 1-2% of the general population, which amounts to more than 1 million people in the UK, and increases the risk of stroke by five times. Treating the condition with medicine is often ineffective, with many patients continuing to suffer from…
Article • 'Lead from the front'
From clinician to hospital medical director
Making the transition from clinician to a senior hospital management role can prove challenging. Professor Erika Denton did it – whilst also retaining some clinical responsibilities. A radiology background, Denton believes, is a major asset in making the move into high-level management. Currently the Medical Director of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) in the east of England,…
News • Reducing coronavirus test burden
AI speeds up COVID-19 screening in emergency rooms
Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven have developed a new algorithm for the rapid screening for COVID-19. The software is intended for use in Emergency Rooms (ER), to quickly exclude the presence of corona in incoming patients. As a result, doctors need to conduct fewer standard coronavirus tests, increasing efficiency. The quick scan…
Article • Corona management in Taiwan
Standing united against COVID-19
Despite its proximity to China, Taiwan contained COVID-19 successfully, without a lockdown or movement restriction measures introduced elsewhere. With few new cases reported, life almost returned to normal. Behind the scenes, however, efforts have continued to maintain that positive situation.
News • Surprising find
More than half of heart scans abnormal in hospitalised COVID-19 patients
Half of COVID-19 patients who received a heart scan in hospital showed abnormalities in heart function, according to new research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The study, published in the European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Imaging, found that around one in seven showed severe abnormalities likely to have a major effect on their survival and recovery. It also showed that one…
News • Artificial intelligence in imaging
Using AI to support operators against COVID-19
Artificial Intelligence is an essential tool for the healthcare operators on the front line in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. ASST Vimercate Hospital chose and implemented in the midst of the COVID-19 emergency REiLI, Fujifilm Medical Systems’ Artificial Intelligence.
News • Alarm sound design
Taking the noise out of hospital rooms
Hospitals can get noisy, especially intensive care units, and the life-saving electronic machines monitoring patient vital signs are making most of the racket. Mike Rayo, an assistant professor of integrated systems engineering at The Ohio State University, is working to improve and organize the cacophony to help caregivers and patients alike. For almost a decade, Rayo has collaborated on…
Article • Disinfection
Robots help fight hospital infections
In the hustle and bustle of a hospital, properly disinfecting all surfaces in a patient room can be a challenging and time-consuming task. Now, in times of the coronavirus pandemic, it can also be life-threatening. To minimize the risk for their staff, hospitals are utilizing disinfection robots to sanitize surfaces and rooms.
News • Protective equipment
COVID-19 prevention: Why adequate PPE and training are so important
Despite being at high risk of exposure to COVID-19, frontline healthcare professionals who were appropriately protected did not contract infection or develop protective immunity against the virus, finds a study from China published by The BMJ.
News • Synapse 3D visualization tool
Improving diagnostic management of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic
The novel Coronavirus infection (severe acute respiratory syndrome SARS-CoV-2), which has led to the spread of COVID-19 around the world, has upset normal workflow in hospitals. The increased workload and stress, due to the necessity of implementing safe and separate diagnostic pathways, and the need to constantly monitor the development of the disease after its onset, continues to have a…
Article • Infection control in hospitals
Nosocomial influenza: The enormous effect of mask wearing
The Coronavirus dominates everyday conversation as well as medical and scientific discussions, but in a Leipzig hygiene congress, other topics – such as nosocomial influenza – took a strong position. Dr Andreas Ambrosch, head of the Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene at the Brothers of Mercy Hospital in Regensburg, Germany, presented a new study on the spread…
News • Coronavirus in EHR data
COVID-19 data saves lives in Spain
HM Hospitales, a leading Hospital Group in Madrid, decided to provide the international scientific community with totally anonymized health data regarding patients being treated for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their facilities.
News • NHS
Looking to vets’ infectious disease know-how to end Covid-19 lockdown
The UK government should look to veterinary infectious disease know-how to end the current lockdown and abandon its financially ruinous strategy to manage the Covid-19 epidemic, argue two leading vets in a trenchant critique of official policy in this week’s Vet Record.
Article • Coping with COVID-19
Taiwan: a role model for pandemic management
As many nations struggle to keep COVID-19 infection numbers down through increasingly tough public health measures, some point out the island of Taiwan presents an example of how to be prepared in the event of a pandemic. Located less than 150 kilometres from the original viral source – China – Taiwan has seen far fewer cases of the coronavirus in the past month, with a much lower infection…
Article • Coronavirus chronology
COVID-19 in the U.S.: Government inaction gave virus a head start
The sense of fear is palpable in the images and videos of hospital intensive care units (ICUs) and emergency departments that are broadcast on television and posted on social media. Fear and heartbreak can be heard in the voices of physicians and nurses who describe what they are experiencing.
Article • Raising data protection levels against cyberattacks
IT security: as routine as disinfection
Cyber attacks on hospitals occur every day. However, if IT security works well, nobody needs even notice. But if defence measures fail the impact can be enormous and the outcry among the general public large. The new branch-specific security standard (B3S) of the German Hospital Federation (DKG) shows how hospitals can improve their IT security. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)…
Article • Bringing AI to the clinics
Pioneering a vendor neutral AI system
Capturing all the possibilities brought by AI long-seemed a faraway dream for hospitals, since most artificial intelligence (AI) solutions are vendor dependent, thus complicating their deployment in clinical practice. However, the dream has become reality at Utrecht UMC, which launched a pioneering AI infrastructure able to monitor information and run any algorithm from its HIS, RIS and PACS.…
News • Digitizing workflows
Dutch hospital expands imaging solution to include digital pathology
Medical imaging IT and cybersecurity company Sectra has signed a digital pathology contract with the Dutch hospital Zuyderland MC. A digital pathology workflow makes it possible to access and share images and information between departments and hospitals. Storing, reviewing and sharing digital pathology images increases efficiency in primary diagnostics and improves cancer care by facilitating…
News • Finding the right hospital
Colon cancer surgery: why experience pays off
Patients with colorectal cancer have a greater chance of survival if they are operated in hospitals with a high case load. This is because complications that can occur after surgery can be better managed there. Tumours of the colon, so-called colorectal carcinomas, are the second to third most frequent tumours in women and men in Germany. The surgical removal of the tumours is a central component…
News • NVIDIA at RSNA
Federated learning brings AI with privacy to hospitals
With over 100 exhibitors at the annual Radiological Society of North America conference using NVIDIA technology to bring AI to radiology, 2019 looks to be a tipping point for AI in healthcare. Despite AI’s great potential, a key challenge remains: gaining access to the huge volumes of data required to train AI models while protecting patient privacy.
Article • Where are the infectiologists?
‘The hygiene plan is nothing but a fig leaf’
Nosocomial infections cause more deaths than traffic accidents – a stunning discovery made in a recent German study. Worse: infectious diseases long thought eradicated in Europe, such as measles, tuberculosis (TB) and, more recently, syphilis, are also implicated. The increasing number of patients places an additional financial burden on healthcare. But – and this might be the good news –…