According to estimates up to 450 million patients will suffer from diabetes in the year 2025 (currently 250 million). In view of this, glucose monitoring is of utmost importance. Scientific studies and practical experiences with glucose monitoring at the point of care (POC) were evaluated recently during a meeting of experts in Vienna.
The Alliance for MRI aims to ensure that the threat posed by the EU Physical Agents 2004/40/EC (EMF) to the future of MR is averted and that patients in Europe will not be precluded from state-of-the-art healthcare services. In early 2010 the European Parliament and Council will be sent a proposal from the European Commission to amend Directive 2004/40/EC on electromagnetic fields. This revision…
The closing event of the two-year Value+ project called for enhanced political commitment on patient involvement both at policy and project level. Meaningful involvement of patients enhances project results so that the project’s learnings can contribute more effectively to patient-centred, equitable healthcare throughout the EU.
A large proportion of patients who undergo abdominal/pelvic computed tomography (CT) receive unindicated and unnecessary additional image acquisition resulting in excess, avoidable radiation exposure, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
The Tenth Annual European interoperability testing event, known as the IHE Connectathon, will be held in Bordeaux, France from April 12th to 16th, 2010 at the Cité Mondiale, a conference center located in the heart of the city on the banks of the Garonne river.
What is good for the body may not be good for the mind. In an effort to repair heart damage with bypass surgery patients may experience unintended cerebral damage, including neuroligical impairment or even stroke.
Dell announced a Mobile Clinical Computing (MCC) solution that addresses the unique challenges of hospitals when balancing the need to make patient information available to medical staff at the point of care and securing the information in the data centre to promote compliance with stricter compliance and patient data confidentiality regulations.
Today testing of patients at the point of care (POC) accounts for 25% of all testing, and these portable assays are increasing their penetration into medical practice at rapid rate of 12% each year. Yet along with the growth comes an increasing risk of errors that adversely affect quality of clinical decision-making and patient safety.
In the operating room, a surgeon typically is surrounded by 11 different medical devices, « and they all keep beeping at us, » complains Dr. Martin Schuster at Charité University Hospital in Berlin. «Which one of these alarms is important, » he asks, adding that blood pressure, oxygen saturation and ventillator alerts can sound between 10 and 12 times during each case.
How can postoperative delirium and postoperative cognitive dysfunction be avoided? How is it best to address the problem of epilepsy? How can anaesthetists cope better with a patient death under anaesthesia? These difficult questions were among many addressed by specialists at HAI 2009, the annual conference of the German Society for Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI). Report:…
Throughout the world, every day, thousands of hospital patients are victims of identification breakdowns and errors that resulted or could have resulted in far greater health problems for them and other outcomes for hospitals.
‘Supremely portable and incredibly tough, the NanoMaxx ultrasound system combines Best in Class performance with affordability and simplicity,’ the Erlangen-based manufacturer SonoSite reports.
Two years ago, "The Health", a national project, began by wanting new high-tech medical centres in various parts of the country, with 15 new hospitals to be built for cardiosurgery, orthopaedics and oncology. Only five have been built. The government has decided to switch the focus of the project to preventive medicine and to create health centres for this purpose
Medizinisches Wissen wächst heute so schnell, dass Ärzte kaum in der Lage sind, diese Flut von Erkenntnissen zu verarbeiten. Von den täglich auf sie einwirkenden Informationen nehmen Menschen mehr als 98 Prozent gar nicht wahr.
Full automation has now become the gold standard for clinical laboratories. Without hospital microbiology labs, which according to the Centres for Disease Control deal with 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths annually in the US alone, the growing threat of community-acquired and nosocomial infections could prove insuperable.
The Leapfrog Group is a U.S. organisation of member companies that pay for healthcare services, e.g. corporations, health insurers and local, state and federal government agencies. Established in 2000, its philosophy is that big 'leaps' in healthcare safety, quality and value to patients will be recognised and rewarded. The organisation mobilises purchasing power of its members, representing over…
After two years of intensive work the results from the German pilot phase of the EuroCMR Register are due to be published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology*, and also presented and discussed in detail at this year's ECR in Barcelona.
As the modern enterprise seeks to focus ever more narrowly on its core activities, IT outsourcing services are increasingly being considered as a business strategy. The changing demands and trends in healthcare are forcing healthcare organisations to acknowledge the increasing role that outsourcing can play in improving effectiveness, competitiveness, and IT expertise as well as in reducing…
Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT) and the only provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions, today announced a German-wide partnership with d.velop AG. Together they will offer data storage and document management capabilities to provide cost-effective and reliable solutions for the health care sector.
Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Krankenhaushygiene (DGKH) hat in Kooperation mit dem Universitätsklinikum Essen und dem Berufsverband der Deutschen Chirurgen (BDC) drei neue Aufklärungsfilme zur Händehygiene produziert.
For five days a renovated tram barn in Vienna became one of Europe's hottest internet centres as more than 230 healthcare IT engineers gathered for five days of intensive systems tests during the 10th annual IHE-Europe Connectathon. John Brosky reports
According to ECD statistics for Europe, three million cases of nosocomial infections occur annually, and 50,000 are fatal. Evelina Tacconelli MD PhD (below) is Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy. Her scientific focus is on epidemiology, clinical and therapeutic aspects of nosocomial infections and infection control policies aimed to…
The UK, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands already have it - an official obligation to report MRSA cases to their health authorities. Since 1 July 2009 German law has also required notification. Professor Herbert Hof, Director of the Institute for Microbiology and Hygiene at the University Hospital Mannheim, Germany, explained why such notification became essential.
Concerns over whether the tests a treatment undergoes before general release are enough to ensure its long-term safety have been raised in an editorial by Dr Vijay Sharma, Clinical Editor of BMJ Clinical Evidence. He suggests that treatments should be introduced gradually so that evidence can be built up and the treatment can find its proper niche.
Nine years ago surgeon Ulrich Matern, engineer Martin Scherrer and theatre nurse Diana Hagen, suggested a project aimed at improving work practices and efficiency in the operating theatre (OT) and a means to teach, from science-based knowledge, the correct operation of equipment.
