Assistive devices for illness and care
Questions arose at MEDICA 2008 about which assistive/care devices reach patients, what is their quality and who pays for them.
Wound management
New device brings clarity to critical limb ischaemia
About 4 million people in Germany suffer from bad or non healing wounds. Most important for a good wound healing is a good sufficient supply with oxygen.
Symposium: Surgical site infections
Surgical Site Infection is the most important problem facing surgeons today, according to Professor Miguel Cainzos, of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, speaking at the 2nd EMEA Symposium on New Non-Pharmaceutical ways to reduce surgical site infection.
Beds with micro-stimulation
Patented Völker Micro-stimulation Systems (MiS) present a complex suspension and are the technical implementation of basal stimulation; they support prophylactic measures, particularly pressure sore prophylaxis, and they are now the standard pressure reduction system used in all Völker beds, the maker reports (Full details: www.voelker.de)
Diabetic foot
The 2nd international symposium `Diabetic foot: surgery, therapy, rehabilitation´ took place on the beginning of October in St. Petersburg. Olga Ostrovskaya reports from Russia
Chronic wound care today
When it comes to chronic wound care, says Professor Heinz J Janssen of the Institute for Health and Nursing Economics (IGP) at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, cost effectiveness and quality are not contradictions.
Products focused on nurse and patient needs
ArjoHuntleigh, formed in 2007 from the merger of ARJO and Huntleigh Healthcare, is showing a broad portfolio of products and services for patient care.
3-D textiles reduce pressure ulcer risk in the OR
Pressure ulcers are a risk for patients undergoing long surgical procedures. Gel pads, widely used to reduce this risk, are considered to have two major disadvantages: they compromise the patient's thermo regulation by "sucking" warmth from the body and they do not provide sufficient pressure reduction for prominent body parts.
Article • Patient safety & products
What's a dynamic mattress?
Dynamic mattresses, also called alternating air pressure mattresses or replacement mattress systems, have air cells that alternately inflate and deflate in a cycle to relieve pressure on the body.
Product effectively relieves pressure
During five years of practical experience, Johanna Meyer, Assistant Director of the Nursing Directorate at Gütersloh Municipal Hospital, Germany, has found that a pressure-relieving system made by MTS proved convenient for patients and nurses.
Care and patient safety
One of the major nursing congresses in the German-speaking countries is the Southern German Nursing Day which took place on 7 October 2008 at the University Hospital Munich. One focus of this year's event was the question whether and how modifications of and curtailing nursing services will impact patient safety.
A patch of skin
An interdisciplinary researcher team from the University of Sheffield has developed an ultra-fine, 3-dimensional scaffold to regenerate skin for wound healing. It dissolves after integrating in the wound and might provide a more safer way of treating injuries.
Wound dressing fights the super bug
In any hospital, one of the most dreaded enemies is MRSA. This super-resistant pathogen laughs in the face of most antibiotics. But now, medical and hygiene product manufacturer Lohmann & Rauscher may have developed an efficient weapon to fight this ugly beast: a wound dressing that contains polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB).
What makes bedsores tick?
According to a study by the German Aerospace Centre, bedsores are mainly induced by a combination of gravity and immobility. Gravity exerts skin pressure and tissue shearing stress, which in turn provoke pathological changes if patient mobility is not encouraged.
For the world's children — from Russia with love
"Our institute for Children's Emergency Surgery and Traumatology, which also includes neurotrauma, trauma, resuscitation, intensive care and others, has a unique character", Prof Roshal explained.
Hair helps chronic wound healing
Hair follicles, long disregarded by researchers, except in the cosmetic industry, may turn out to be `the fountain of youth´, according to Andreas Emmendörffer, CEO of German biotech firm Euroderm.
Russia's specialist wound surgeon
A meeting with Dr Valerij Mitish was difficult to arrange - every day he's at a different Moscow hospital.
Optimising chronic wound care
Process optimisation concerns all primary and secondary processes in a hospital. Case management is a tool that supports the implementation of comprehensive optimisation efforts.
Pressure ulcers
Physiology is the science concerned with the processes and functions of an organism.
BEST therapy for chronic wounds
The recently launched KFH Novo from Kingfisher Healthcare (KFH) is a non-invasive medical device that utilises Bio-Electric Stimulation Therapy (BEST) to deliver extremely low levels of current to chronic wounds. This does not interfere with standard conventional therapy; the electrodes are placed some way from the wounds, beyond the normal treatment areas.
Developments in dressings and bedding
Little research has been carried out into new therapies for wound healing. As chronic wounds tend to be classed as side effects of other diseases, e.g. diabetes, they are often treated as trivial. However, the body's capacity to heal itself often does not set in for weeks.
Tissue adhesive not sutures
Germany - Rather than the time consuming procedure of suturing a wound, Epiglu simply needs adapting to size then application.
Healing skin wounds
Researchers define the role of signal molecule c-Met
Saving diabetics' feet
Diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) is one of the most serious sequela of diabetes mellitus - Disease management programmes (DMP) yield first results
A deeper view of wound infections
Launched last year, the Wound Infection Institute (WII), supported by Smith & Nephew Wound Management, now has a 130-strong membership, which include leading clinicians and scientists working to understand more about wound infections and their control.