The nose knows
Cliff, a two-year-old beagle, has recently demonstrated his talent for detecting Clostridium difficile according to doctors at the Vrije University Medical Centre (VUMC) in Amsterdam.
Monitoring
Mindray is quick, flexible, highly international and open to all
Founded in 1991 in Shenzhen, China, Mindray is now known internationally for its products that cover patient monitoring and life support, in-vitro diagnostics, medical imaging and veterinary. During Daniela Zimmermann’s interview with David Yin, General Manager of Mindray Europe, he described the firm’s clear strategy for Europe and beyond
GE introduces Giraffe Stand Alone Resuscitation System
GE Healthcare yesterday announced the availability of the Giraffe® Stand-Alone Infant Resuscitation (STAR) System, which integrates critical capabilities to enhance effective resuscitation of newborns.
Advanced monitorin for high-acuity division
Conceptualized specifically for high-acuity patient monitoring and integrated with the world’s leading technologies, Edan Instruments’ latest elite V8 modular patient monitor offers real-time, organized view of accurate patient information, intelligent data analysis, management, network connectivity and simplified operation to the ICU, CCU, NICU, OR and PACU.
Surgeons demand the best. Sony delivers it.
For a surgeon to perform at their peak, they need the highest quality equipment. For this reason, Sony developed the PVM-2551MD 24.5” monitor.
Battling against hospital acquired infections
Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are among the most common complications during a hospital and care home stay in the West (although they also occur in developing countries, with even an assumed higher incidence), causing enormous strain for those affected as well as high follow-on costs for healthcare systems.
Safer sleep, safer sugar
Ensuring the safety of hospitalised patients is vital – and brought under a particularly strong focus in anaesthesiology. Launched in 2010, the Helsinki Declaration provided a further boost. Report: Holger Zorn
Neonatologists recommend volume-targeted ventilation for premature babies
Volume-targeted ventilated premature babies have a higher survival rate and suffer less ventilation-related lung damage – this is the result of a survey amongst international neonatologists.
Breathing space
If the hopes of inventors are to be believed, in around 20 years’ time there will be ‘real artificial lungs -- for now the endpoint of a history that began 84 years ago with the invention of the iron lung. Until then, non-invasive and invasive mechanical respiration will continue to dominate the hospital, complemented by extracorporeal procedures for blood oxygenation and decarbonisation,…
Oral vaccination against pancreatic tumours
The world’s first gene cancer therapy study of an innovative oral vaccine is underway at the Surgical Clinic of Heidelberg University Hospital.
Training against medical errors
Surgical simulations can save lives, Anja Behringer reports Medical errors occur more frequently than traffic accidents and clearly better systems are needed to improve patient safety. Thus the importance of medical training using human simulation models is increasingly emphasised in Germany.
World’s first Curve Image Guided Surgery system now operating in Germany
This week, university hospital Klinikum rechts der Isar in Munich, Germany, is the first hospital in the world to operating Brainlab’s Curve Image Guided Surgery system. Curve is Brainlab’s latest generation of image-guided surgery systems. The new technology provides surgeons with better guidance and control during surgery enabling faster, more precise and safer interventions.
Touch screen cardiopulmonary diagnostics
Schiller reports that its new range of touch screen ECG systems combines precision performance and attractive ergonomics. With a touch to the large, high-resolution colour display, 12-lead ECGs and pulmonary function tests can be recorded, selected and printed in seconds.
The MR Diagnostics Incubator System
A solution for a large but previously unsolved problem has been solved by LMT Lammers Medical Technology GmbH, which specialises in the interface of neonatology and radiology.
The ‘sepsis team’
‘We are all aware of the importance of early diagnosis and rapid appropriate treatment of patients with severe sepsis. Yet, many patients still do not receive satisfactory early management and the application of recent guidelines for sepsis management is still inadequate,’ writes Jean-Louis Vincent MD PhD, from the Intensive Care Department, Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles,…
Hospital develops its own app
An original computer application that enables access to electronic patient records (EPRs) instantly via doctors’ smartphones has been designed by the IT team at the Holy Name Medical Centre in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA. The app also offers direct phone links to a patient’s nurse and emergency contact person via iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other mobile devices. Report: Mark Nicholls
Siemens describes its new and advanced technology at AACC 2011
The health of the laboratory/ clinician relationship has always served as a good indicator of the overall quality of a given healthcare network. Historically, labs focused ‘heads down’ on delivering excellent test results, but today appear to be expanding their horizons to partner with clinicians for better patient care.
UK government topples the dinosaur
Led by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, the United Kingdom’s Labour government proudly launched its National Programme for IT (NPfIT) in 2002, a forward-looking plan with huge budget to match. The following year the nation was awed by something akin to a gold rush, as information technology companies scrambled to compete for and gain healthcare IT contracts from the £12 billion project.…
Human error – or a fault in the system?
Medication errors sit among the top ten causes of harm to patients. They can, of course, occur in any department, but it’s still a surprise that they happen as frequently in anaesthetics departments, considering anaesthetists’ expertise is in handling tricky medication. However, apparently they are not the fault of the professional, but of the nature of the processes. Report: Karoline…
Dose discussion: How low can you go?
How low? During the GE Healthcare Lunch Symposium of GE Healthcare at this year’s ECR in Vienna, Michael Maher, Professor of Radiology at the University College, Cork, provided an answer: 1.2 millisievert – at least for abdominal CT scans in patients with Crohn’s disease.
C. difficile increases death risk six-fold in IBD cases
The UK -- Patients admitted to hospital with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) face a six-fold greater risk of death if they become infected with Clostridium difficile, according to a new study carried out by researchers at Imperial College London and St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust (pub: Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics).
At war with nosocomial infections: Software that looks hard to beat
The clinical informatics firm ICNet International Ltd, which develops case management and surveillance software, has produced a software package using the SSI (Surgical Site infection surveillance) Monitor to combine information about patient movements in a hospital with data held by the laboratory and theatre systems -- and to alert staff if a patient is either infected or at risk of contracting…
How can we measure infants' pain after an operation?
It turns out to be difficult to find out exactly how much a child who cannot yet speak suffers after a surgical operation. Researchers at the University Hospital of La Paz, in Madrid, have validated the 'Llanto' scale, the first, and only, tool in Spanish which measures infant pain rapidly and simply.
Early warning system for Alzheimer's disease
Scientists at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow are developing a technique based on a new discovery which could pave the way towards detecting Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages - and could help to develop urgently-needed treatments.