Quality Control is our passion and with more than 30 years' experience developing QC for the in vitro diagnostics market we believe in producing high quality material that can help streamline procedures, whilst saving money for laboratories of all sizes and budgets. These qualities have been reflected in our RIQAS External Quality Assessment (EQA) programmes which, as outlined in Case Study 1,…
A fully automated clinical microbiology laboratory system went into service at Heidelberg University Hospital this April. Produced by medical technology firm BD Life Science, this first installation at a German university hospital will play a major role in a study exploring the potential benefits of lab automation in containing the spread of pathogens in a hospital.
Wound infections after surgery are not uncommon and can be fatal. In Germany, postoperative wound infections are now the most common type of hospital acquired infection (HAI), with a proportion of 24%.
Laboratories are an essential part of effective modern healthcare. They provide clinicians with vital information that helps them make life-saving decisions, diagnose conditions and monitor patient treatment.
Jens Hahn MD is an Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Specialist who works with the international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF in English: Doctors Without Borders). Here he describes his work in Afghanistan and South Sudan, and the use of rapid diagnostic tests in the field.
The yuck factor may be an effective tool for boosting hand hygiene compliance among health care workers, according to a study at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
‘Humber River Hospital, Toronto, Canada, could come straight out of a science fiction series that provides Star Trek-like healthcare services with hall-cruising robots delivering food, medications and supplies to staff, electrochromic windows, video conference capabilities at patients’ bedsides and real-time location systems, to name but a few futuristic features. Yet, this is now and for…
With more than 30 years’ experience developing pioneering high quality, cost effective Quality Control solutions for the IVD market Randox has designed their Acusera range of third party controls to simplify QC practice for labs of all sizes. The following outlines frequent complaints that arise in the lab & solutions we can offer to ensure you no longer quietly complain about your QC.
Healthcare is going digital. No doubt about it, Prof. Hufnagl predicts. Information and communication technologies have gone beyond moving data from one place to the other; they are triggering stellar improvements in healthcare: diagnoses are becoming ever more precise, therapies ever more personalised. The extent to which the individual clinical disciplines have progressed in their technological…
Mobile technology could prove an important catalyst in helping take digital pathology onto a new level in delivering clinical diagnostics.
In a study of 436 breast cancer cases with 28 years of survival data histo-pathologists from Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden shows that protein tissue-based biomarker data are at least as good as gene expression assays.
Pathologists in Utrecht step away from the microscope as the first fully digital workflow goes live for primary diagnostics. ‘The whole world wants to stop by and see the show,’ said Paul van Diest MD, who leads the Department of Pathology at the Utrecht University Medical Centre.
A UK-based neuropathologist has highlighted how the digitisation of pathology will play a pivotal role in taking patient care on to a new and more efficient level. Speaking in a recent Webinar under the heading The Adoption and Benefits of Digital Pathology for Primary Diagnosis, Dr Daniel du Plessis also noted how the digital era would raise the profile of pathology and ‘bring it out of the…
Most accidents result from ‘the human factor’ – long acknowledged in aviation. Thus all crew members receive regular safety training to help prevent errors on board and on the ground. Now experts at the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (DGOU) with those from Lufthansa Flight Training have developed a similar training programme for physicians. This Interpersonal Competence Training…
At a recent focus meeting held in Berlin by the Association of Accredited Laboratories in Medicine, Dr Andreas Weimann, managing director at the Laboratory Berlin – Charité Vivantes Services, spoke of the challenges that laboratories working with hospitals face due to the management of pathogens and the diagnosis of infections.
For most people, the culmination of a good life is a “good death,” though what that means exactly is a matter of considerable consternation. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine surveyed published, English-language, peer-reviewed reports of qualitative and quantitative studies defining a “good death,” ultimately identifying 11 core themes associated…
A unique pilot project to promote entry into professional life in Germany for refugees with a medical background might counteract the acute shortage of qualified employees in healthcare. The programme is scheduled to start this spring.
With 4,360 transplant operations from 1,682 donations in 2014, Spain broke the country’s own record and confirmed its place as the world leader in organ donations, a position it has held for the past 24 years.
Scientists have a new tool for unraveling the mysteries of how diseases such as HIV move through a population, thanks to insights into phylogenetics, the creation of an organism’s genetic tree and evolutionary relationships.
The current political framework changes healthcare structures and competitive dynamics for medical services providers. These issues were raised at the 11th Management and Strategy Congress MARA (Management in Radiology) in Bonn, in autumn 2015. Dr. Martin Maurer, one of the congress organisers, explained: ‘The objective of the MARA Congress is not to hold pretty lectures but primarily to…
Dissemination of clinical trial results by leading academic medical centres in the United States remains poor, despite ethical obligations - and sometimes statutory requirements - to publish findings and report results in a timely manner, concludes a study in The BMJ.
Spread across 43 acres, Medanta is one of India’s largest specialty hospitals located in Gurgaon, a bustling town near New Delhi. The hospital was founded in 2009 by renowned cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Naresh Trehan. Medanta has 1,250 beds and over 350 critical care beds with 45 operating theatres catering to over 20 specialties.
On January 29, 2016, Henry Schein will officially inaugurate its new warehouse and logistics center in Heppenheim. The modern, 10.5 meter tall building with 18,000 square meters of floor space stands on a 3.1 hectare property located in Heppenheim‘s industrial park ‘Tiergartenstrasse‘. The warehouse team has meanwhile moved from the old logistics center in Weinheim to the new facility.
In addition to physical examinations, medical history laboratory test results are critical in almost all medical decisions made in the hospital. The demand for adequate, fast measurements has increased exponentially over at least the last 50 years and may have increased 100-fold, or more, since the 1950s. This could not have been achieved without the introduction of partial or full automation, of…
Bladder cancer is associated with high recurrence rates, necessitating prolonged surveillance and repeated treatments. As a result, it is one of the most challenging and costly of all solid tumours to manage. Although most patients present at an early stage with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), between 13% and 61% will experience recurrence within 1 year of initial transurethral…