Tumour ablation - and Radiofrequency (RF) ablation in particular - is getting more and more important in oncology. The therapy option offers benefits in terms of costs, ease of set-up and flexibility so that experts see the need to expand the applications of it.
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.
Last week, the Commissioner for Health, Androulla Vassiliou launched the 'Europe for Patients' campaign in Brussels. The campaign highlights the different health policy initiatives the Commission intends to adopt in the coming months. All these initiatives are bound by a common goal: better healthcare for all in Europe.
Health systems and health policies across the EU are becoming ever more interconnected which raises many health policy issues. On 2 July 2008, in the context of the Renewed Social Agenda, the European Commission tabled a proposal for a directive on patients' rights in cross-border healthcare. Essential precondition for cross-border healthcare is the existence of electronic health record systems…
The World of Health IT 2008 Conference & Exhibition is an innovative and forward-thinking event designed to deepen the understanding of specific healthcare ICT markets in Europe.
Catheter ablation is still associated with a substantial amount of complications, and more failure then sometimes reported. Perforation with catheters is especially important in atrial fibrillation. Robotic navigation could reduce these complications.
Since Rofecoxib (Vioxx) was withdrawn from the worldwide market based on the safety findings of the Adenomatous Polyp Prevention on Vioxx (APPROVe) study, the uncertainty around the cardiovascular safety of NSAIDs and COX-2 inhibitors remains and leaves practitioners with difficult management decisions for the hundreds of millions of patients worldwide who continue to require pain-relieving…
The world's first installation of Cisco's telemetry system HealthPresence has been completed at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Scotland. The system combines video, audio and call centre technology with medical information in a high-security network.
Information in patients' records could benefit biomedical research in terms of understanding diseases and their treatments. The drawback is that those records contain confidential information that could identify patients. If that data has to be removed manually, the task is not only painstaking and therefore expensive, but also not foolproof.
The belief that iodinated contrast agents can induce nephropathy has been held for many years, even though most of the clinical literature has not been able to distinguish contrast-induced nephropathy from other causes of the condition.
Laparoscopy is playing an increasingly important role in urology and centres of excellence have been established to provide training in urological laparoscopic surgery.
Last October the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) added a black box warning on ultrasound (US) contrast agents used in echocardiogram imaging examinations, around 200 reports of serious allergic reactions were received. Problems included cardiac arrest as well as breathing difficulty and seizures; seven of the cases resulted in death.
The drug information system AiDKlinik developed by Dosing GmbH is a software solution for the server-based intranet for medication dosing.
The Dutch E-health initiatives have made remarkable progress in recent years, writes Marcel Swennenhuis, President of Topicus HealthCare. Many solutions, such as online medication services, patient portals and web-based disease management initiatives, demonstrate the success of the country's EHR approach.
Researcher have found that overcrowding and understaffing in hospitals lead to a failure of MRSA control programmes, which in turn results in increased inpatient hospital stay, bed blocking and further infection control failure.
According to recent survey by the Leapfrog Group 87% of hospitals fail to adhere infection prevention measures on a consistent basis. In the Wall Street Journal, Betsy McCaughey, chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Death, warns against the next wave of lawsuits.
Hospital infections are immensely dangerous. Toul Meditech has therefore developed a new mobile laminar airflow system which can be used in every operating room in addition to the existing ventilation system.
Hospital admission might probably determine the severity of heart failure. By analysing data from 260 hospitals across the United States researchers created a model to reduce in-hospital mortality and more quickly identify triage methods and treatment decisions.
A recent case from Eardisland, Herefordshire, demonstrates the impact of institutions like the Nursing & Midwifery Council in the UK that considers allegations of misconduct of nurses. A nurse was given a three-year caution for not adhering to the Council's professional code of conduct which led to serious consequences for the patient.
Hiding behind a doctor's licence obtained years ago will no longer be tolerated in England. Senior doctors are asked to function as "responsible officers" who collect information about colleagues over a period of time. The new arrangement intends to examine the fitness of physicians every five years.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a software application to automatically "de-identify" medical records. The software might help to allay patients' fears about who has access to their confidential data. It is capable of deleting details which may identify patients while leaving important medical information intact.
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).
Considered optimal transportation and identification tools, they have become a symbol for modern hospitals: RFID tags. But according to a new study radio frequency identification devices (RFID) may disrupt medical devices. Moreover, the FDA is concerned that the increase in digital technology might be dangerous for patients.
"Surgical care and its safe delivery affect the lives of millions of people. About 234 million major operations are performed worldwide every year", according to the World Health Organization (WHO). To avoid - possibly fatal - complications the WHO introduced a checklist on safe surgery.
When tumours are situated in difficult locations, e.g. near the brain, lungs, prostate or abdomen, patients treated with conventional radiation equipment often suffer severe side effects, which include bleeding, chronic infections or organ function limitations.