There is a large variation in unplanned reoperation rates after colorectal surgery in English NHS hospitals, finds a study published on bmj.com today. As such, researchers suggest that reoperation rates could be used alongside other quality measures to help improve surgical performance on a national scale.
A combination of several well-known safety procedures could greatly reduce patient-harming errors in the use of radiation to treat cancer, according to a new study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.
Older patients and citizens should play a central role in the design and implementation of solutions for active and healthy ageing, in order to respect their rights and meet their needs. This was the strong message of the participants at the Conference “The Rights and Needs of Older Patients” organised by the European Patients’ Forum (EPF) and the Federation of Polish Patients (FPP).
France – Re-opening clogged arteries with metal stents has proved a life-saver for a majority of patients with coronary disease. Yet the high rates of complications and mortality for patients with diabetes following a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) continue to baffle cardiologists. Report: John Brosky
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…
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.
In terms of health politics, no hospital-related subject is more explosive than hygiene. However, although this reaction is common across Europe, approaches towards tackling nosocomial infections varies among our EU countries. Karoline Laarmann reports from Germany and Jane MacDougall from France…
Professor Bill Keevil, Director of the Environmental Healthcare Unit at University of Southampton’s School of Biological Sciences, was among the first microbiological researchers to experiment on copper’s efficiency against pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains of E. coli bacteria and demonstrate the inherent anti-microbial property of the metal.
In Europe, nosocomial infections cause about 25,000 deaths every year. Copper has strong antibiotic effects and may reduce hospital acquired infections.
Bacteria are highly flexible when it comes to choosing a vehicle to enter a human body. During orthopaedic surgery, they may well settle on a prosthetic joint and cause immediate or delayed infections.
United Kingdom – A call has been made for tighter regulatory controls to ensure the safety regulation of medical devices, following joint investigations carried out by the British Medical Journal and the Channel 4 TV programme Dispatches, which were televised and published online at BMJ.com this May.
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).
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…
One year ago interventional cardiologists raised champagne glasses to celebrate the first publication of clinical evidence showing that transcatheter valve implants (TAVI) is safe and effective. In May at EuroPCR 2011, cardiologists raised magnifying glasses to look closer at further clinical results. John Brosky reports from Paris
When thinking about sharing radiological data within a multi-site center or even within a region, the initial question that arises always sounds the same: How should we cross-link all the data from the existing PACS solutions without going bankrupt? Because drawing a line and installing new systems all over the site in most of the cases is simply not affordable. On the other hand, the…
Adults with congenital heart failure (CHD) are a growing special subset of patients with specific needs; most need lifelong care, but in adulthood many fail to receive it. By Holger Zorn
The introduction of comprehensive risk management to a hospital is challenging. Although initiating quality and safety processes is often easy, the structural changes in a microcosmic hospital are harder to crack. However, successfully integrated risk management can represent a decisive, competitive advantage in the healthcare market. By Karoline Laarmann
To meet the high demands of today’s radiological environment, a PACS must provide far more than archiving, controlling and distribution of electronic data. Post processing and upgradable network structuring capabilities are just as important to guarantee efficient workflow. The Visage Thin Client looks like a smart solution indeed.
Contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) is widely recognised as a potentially serious complication of contrast media use -- a risk that increases with a patient’s age and decreased renal function. Mark Nicholls reports
A mix of hardware, software and services, the Hitachi Clinical Repository (HCR) system draws together all patient data from many information sources, thus providing quicker and better use of records. At Hitachi Data Systems, Mark Clark explained: ‘HCR basically provides the infrastructure to put together both clinical and non-clinical data into a centralised, non-proprietary-repository to…
Preliminary results from a large, ongoing study involving medical staff in 11 hospitals in six European countries indicate that Dell’s Mobile Clinical Computing (MCC) system has made the use of applications easier for doctors and nurses, significantly increased efficiency in IT management and raised IT acceptance in the hospitals involved.
The new cloud hovering over the IT industry bodes pleasant and sunny business weather. Reason enough for the organisers of CeBIT 2011, the large international IT event held in Hanover this March, to make ‘cloud computing’ the keynote theme, dubbed ‘Work and Life with the Cloud’. EH reporter Walter F Schäfer questions what cloud computing is and what promise it might hold for healthcare…
The global software provider TeraRecon is recognised for strong clinical applications containing advanced image processing and 3-D visualisation for CT, MRI and PET. Since May 2010, this Silicon Valley company (Frost & Sullivan’s 2010 ‘Company of the Year Award’ winner, for European Advanced Visualisation Applications) has been expanding its core business into cloud computing services…
The part of bacterial DNA that often carries antibiotic resistance is a master at moving between different types of bacteria and adapting to widely differing bacterial species, shows a study made by a research team at the University of Gothenburg in cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology. The results are published in an article in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
With 1,600 customers and a 30-40% market share in Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland, IT and imaging enterprise Agfa and its hospital-wide IT solution Orbis are ahead of the game. Dr Volker Wetekam, Executive Vice President of the IT Division, Agfa Healthcare, speaks of a technological advantage of as much as two to three years in the key segments -- PACS, cardiology and regional health --…