
Networking between hospitals? Why buy new software?
Digital data exchange between hospitals is often not possible without replacing software.

Digital data exchange between hospitals is often not possible without replacing software.

UK - Looking at the growing need to understand how digitisation of health information will impact upon patients, staff and managers across the health service, Professor Ann Blandford of the University College London, and Professor Peter Lunt, surveyed 200 patients as well as their representatives, clinicians and other healthcare professionals (librarians and IT staff) working in eight NHS trusts.…

By Kaj Blomqvist MSc (E.E.), electronic engineer for the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS), and currently in charge of the `Picis CareSuite Project´, which aims to automate all HUS acute care departments.

Son Dureta University Hospital, in Palma de Mallorca (Balearics), is Europe's first to use a clinical information system developed from a partnership between Oracle Corporation, Orion Health and Fujitsu Services. Joan Marqués Faner, the hospital's Chief Information Officer, discussed the system with Eduardo de la Sota, our correspondent in Spain.

Italy — One of the biggest RIS/PACS implementations in Europe is being co-ordinated the Area Vasta Centro (AVC) group, which runs 12 hospitals in central Tuscany. Among these, CPA Pistoia hospital (one of three in the ASL 3 Pistoia group, a sub-division of AVC) is streamlining its mammography workflow with a CR Mammography system supplied by Agfa HealthCare.

Full field digital mammography (FFDM) and computed radiography (CR) based mammography systems may bring hospitals and breast imaging services closer to gaining digital mammography, but, according to a leading systems vendor, simply buying imaging equipment does not automatically lead to a more efficient workflow.
The growing use and successes of IT in several industry sectors has strongly influenced the healthcare sector, according to Research Analyst Rahul Philip Mampallil, in a report for the markets consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan (www.healthcare.frost.com).
Improving patient safety and quality of care is of key importance for European citizens, and both the European Commission and Member States (MS) expect great benefits from new, information and communication technology (ICT)-based healthcare solutions.

"It's a definite benefit for the user", said Dr Hans-Joachim Miesner, Business Unit Manager for Neuro/ENT of Carl Zeiss Surgical GmbH.

The Sato Corporation specialises in barcode printing - established in Japan, it pioneered the first hand labellers in 1962 and, in 1974, developed a printer able to print barcodes and OCR characters.

Eastman Kodak Company is selling its new Carestream Digital Dashboard software that enables system administrators to monitor equipment performance, storage utilisation and user volumes for the company's Carestream PACS and information management solutions. Kodak also reports that the next version of this software will support monitoring of the Carestream Radiology Information System (RIS).

Round about 200 visitors came to this years HOSPITAL MANAGER SYMPOSIUM during the course of ECR 2007 to inform themselves about the latest news in Management, IT and Fincance in the field of radiology. Prof. Dr. Christian Herold, President of ECR 2007 opened the symposium and welcomed the speakers and visitors from around the world.
Italy — After five months' work, the first installation phase of Agfa's hospital and clinical information system (HIS/CIS) Orbis for the Gruppo Malzoni (Malzoni Group of hospitals), has been completed at the Clinica Medica Malzoni, in Avellino, and staff are already working with the system.

IT introduction is increasingly considered a strategic element, since it is capable of supporting different decision processes at various levels (top management, middle management and professionals) and guiding them towards concrete objectives: cost control and containment, improved efficiency, evaluation and enhancement of service quality.

Vital patient-related data must be documented by emergency medical services, disaster relief units and emergency physicians, in out-of-hospital settings, and currently most of this is done entered manually on paper.

The question is increasingly significant. Information technology (IT) has thrust itself into all corners of life — some argue for better, some for worse, largely because efficient electronic networking cannot happen overnight. Thus gatherings to share experiences are valuable, as seen in the Berliner Klinik-IT Forum, a two-day event in January, supported by the Charité Berlin. The theme was:…


At the EH symposium, Dr Algayres will discuss:

Dr Rimikis will be discussing:

Sweden - PACS is pushing radiologists towards increasing specialisation, according to a new study - among the first to examine the impact of PACS on radiologists' careers - published in the Journal of Digital Imaging (27/12/2006).

Ludger Philippsen, Senior Manager at Sony Healthcare, says modular workflow solutions are `the future´.

Coronary artery analysis: just a few clics and the software automatically tracks the arteries, enabling assessment of the vessel lumen, calcifications, and adjacent structures

Siemens Financial Services (SFS) recently published an international white paper focusing on the financing of European and US healthcare systems.

Slovakia was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire until 1918, when Czechs and Slovaks were brought together to form the Czechoslovak Republic. After World War II, and up to 1948, the country was still part of Europe, but then fell behind the 'Iron Curtain'. From 1989 it began 'knocking on the EU door' and entry was granted in 2003. Today Slovakia's population is around 5.38 million. To serve…

The US finally did it: radiologists and cardiologists got together to draft guidelines for cardiovascular imaging procedures and define quality standards. However, Europe still awaits a binding consensus to end internal squabbles in hospitals. Meike Lerner, of European Hospital, discussed this situation with Professor Ernst E van der Wall MD, (right) Head of the Department of Cardiology at Leiden…