Hospital

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 • 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.…

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)…

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.

The IoT mesh network

Refining hospital processes saves costs, improves workflows and patient care plus outcomes. To realise those aims, a hospital in the Netherlands has installed an Internet of Things (IoT) mesh network. A pilot project initiated by a Dutch children’s hospital has enlisted an entire ward as an Internet of Things (IoT) playground, to experiment with various type of tags, sensors and switches in a…

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 –…

Article • Structural adjustments

More competition among health insurers or among hospitals?

Temperatures rose significantly when a press release arrived at the Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s competition authority. ‘Does the Bundeskartellamt obstruct useful structural adjustments in the hospital sector?’ the release asked. Issued by the organisers of the European Health Congress, it claimed that the authority had blocked 40 hospital mergers. In view of a recent study by the…

Article • UK hospital gains single platform data access

Implementing an enterprise-wide imaging strategy

The current introduction of instant access to all patient clinical imaging and medical documentation in one picture archiving and communication system (PACS) for use throughout the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust (PAHT), in Essex, UK, lies in the hands of Imaging Systems Manager and radiographer Stephen Townrow. In 2017, Townrow went to his hospital’s Board with a business case to consolidate…

News • Intentional rounding

Nurses' hourly ward rounds? There might be better ways to deliver care

A new report by researchers at King’s College London has found that the widespread practice of routine ward rounds in England, known as intentional rounding, may not be the best way for nurses to deliver care to patients. The report also found that intentional rounding makes a minor contribution, if at all, to the way nurses engage with patients. The research was commissioned and funded by the…

News • Hospital microbes

Green tea could reduce antibiotic resistance

Scientists at the University of Surrey have discovered that a natural antioxidant commonly found in green tea can help eliminate antibiotic resistant bacteria...

Article • Disinfection

Why rigorous hygiene practices are vital

Nosocomial infections present enormous challenges for medical facilities, involving huge hygiene efforts from staff, on patients as well as medical and non-medical products. At MedtecLIVE 2019, in Nuremberg, Susanne Harpel (Dipl. Ing), Deputy Head of the Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine at Giessen/Marburg University Hospital, presented desirable contamination efforts during the…

A truly smart children’s hospital

In a busy hospital, thousands of devices and equipment are on the move every hour of every day. Beds, blood pressure monitors, wheelchairs, or infusion pumps can be taken to different locations and, at times, even ‘lost’. Keeping track of vital tools is a challenge, particularly given the massive throughput of patients and staff shift changes. However, innovative tracking systems are evolving…

News • XDR Klebsiella pneumoniae

Antibiotic resistance in Europe: Hospitals are part of the problem

New research has found that antibiotic-resistant strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae, an opportunistic pathogen that can cause respiratory and bloodstream infections, are spreading through hospitals in Europe. Certain strains are resistant to the carbapenem antibiotics that represent the last line of defence in treating infections and are therefore regarded as extremely drug resistant (XDR).

Article • Microbiology & hygiene

HAIs are one problem – MDROs another

In view of the increase of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO), the WHO has declared antibiotic resistance one of the biggest threats to global health. MDROs have become a major problem particularly in hospitals. Professor Dr Georg Häcker from the Institute for Microbiology and Hygiene at the University Hospital Freiburg, explains some strategies to prevent hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).

Article • Females to the top

Go girl, go! Achieving gender equality in healthcare upper management

France has 32 hospital groups – two regional hospital groups (CRH) and 30 CHUs. Ranked among the 10 best hospitals in France, The Rennes University Hospital (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire [CHU] de Rennes) employs 7,700 people (the second largest employer in the region) and processes almost 1,500 hospitalisations every day. Untypically, since 2015 the general director has been female:…

News • "Alliance for Precision Health”

Missouri University partners up with Siemens

Siemens Healthineers, University of Missouri System (UM System) and University of Missouri Health Care (MU Health Care) launch "Alliance for Precision Health.” The ten-year collaboration will bring the partners’ expertise together to improve health care in Missouri State, promote education and launch research initiatives. Among other things, the clinic receives the only 7 Tesla MRI…

News • Agreement

French academic hospital deploys Philips imaging solution

Royal Philips and Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire (CHRU) de Nancy, a leading academic hospital in the Grand Est region of France, announced a 10-year agreement to implement Philips’ IntelliSpace Enterprise Imaging Solution, including Illumeo with adaptive intelligence. CHRU de Nancy is a public health institution that provides 1.2 million consultation visits and inpatient stays each…

Video • Innovation award IERA

This robot destroys hospital bugs

The 15th Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award in Robotics and Automation (IERA) goes to the “UVD Robot” by Blue Ocean Robotics. The collaborative robot autonomously drives around hospitals while emitting concentrated UV-C light to eliminate bacteria and other harmful microorganisms. As a result, hospitals can guarantee a 99.99% disinfection rate – reducing the risk for patients, staff and…

187 show more articles