The realisation that the fight against C. difficile needs its own specific hygiene management dawned relatively recently. Up to the new millennium a common perception regarding European hospital infection prevention and control was that this bacterium was under control; it was considered a marginal phenomenon, which is why C. difficile was not the focus of problematic pathogen monitoring.
Multidisciplinary tumour boards (MDTs) are widespread in the Netherlands, and ‘they tend to be proliferating lately,’ according to Professor Folkert van Kemenade, Chair of the Pathology department at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam.
The mortality figures as they are currently calculated for Dutch hospitals are not a good measure for the quality of the health care they provide.
There is a global shortage of doctors that is getting worse every year. With the demographic shift in many countries from a predominantly young to an increasing aging population, a steep increase in chronic disease is occurring.
Professional mobility has always been high on the EU agenda. But what are the impacts on the medical sector, if physicians and nurses leave their countries en masse? Daniela Zimmermann asked Günter Danner, Associate Director of the European Representation of the German Social Insurance in Brussels
About 500,000 people in France people suffer heart failure (HF). In Europe the figure is six million and the same in the USA.
Each year the case grows stronger for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI). And it is only six years since the procedure was introduced in Europe.
Modern laparoscopy, the technique of looking inside the abdominal cavity, is a major medical innovation driven initially by physicians from Germany as well as by Swedes and Americans.
A taskforce has been set up in England after it emerged that more than 750 patients had suffered as a result of serious preventable mistakes in hospitals over the past four years.
Two statements from publications by Dr Stephanie Dancer, Department of Microbiology, Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride (UK) prompted Ralf Mateblowski to interview Professor Markus Dettenkofer, Acting Director of the Institute for Environmental Medicine and Hospital Hygiene, Freiburg University Medical Centre about environmental and infection control
All hospital professions can be affected by injuries resulting from cuts and needlesticks, whether they are doctors, nurses or cleaners.
With the effectiveness of ‘tumour board review’ in the USA questioned in a 2012 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Mark Nicholls sought the opinion of UK-based consultant urological surgeon Ben Challacombe
Aggression and violence towards hospital staff by patients and their relatives and visitors alike is an under-reported and an under-discussed issue. A French webside wants to inform employees how they can prevent and react on aggressions.
The “Nicholson challenge" is a set of mandates put forth by the England’s NHS leader Sir David Nicholson. It aims at identifying, and tapping, efficiency potentials in the service.
Statistics behind the headlines: Have there been 13,000 needless deaths at 14 NHS trusts?
The Norwegian Health Directorate has selected FairWarning Patient Privacy Monitoring solution as an integral part of the national roll out of the Norwegian Summary Care Record (SCR).
Around 2,800 visitors are expected at this year’s international Hospital Build & Infrastructure Europe (HBIE) fair, where presentations will include ‘pioneering healthcare strategies, prudent facility management and new approaches for the sustainable operation of hospitals’ as central themes.
Bladder cancer is highly challenging in terms of patient management and medical costs. As the fourth most frequent cancer in men and ninth in women in developed countries, although BC is a common disease it is still under-represented in public awareness and in cancer research .
Paramount to reduced costs and a shortage of skilled professionals, improved quality of care and patient satisfaction are the leading priorities in healthcare today.
If a parameter is determined with different test systems the results must still be comparable. This sounds simple, but is hard to achieve.
Shaken by two medical implant scandals, France is scrambling to rebuild confidence in its system of medical products and medication surveillance, John Brosky reports
Access to healthcare is a fundamental citizen’s right. However health disparities still exist and are even more put at risk with the economic crisis and austerity measures.
Patients' pathogen acquisition was reduced with Chlorhexidine gluconate 2% w/v impregnated pad, and intranasal mupirocin ointment - Study published in New England Journal of Medicine confirms universal decolonization of ICU patients reduces bloodstream infections by 44%.
Hospital Marina Salud de Dénia presented its Sepsis Code at the National Health IT Conference and Exhibition, which recently took place in Birmingham, UK.
A UK study has highlighted the issue of patients waking up from a general anaesthetic while undergoing surgery. The research, which questioned more than 7,100 consultant anaesthetists, revealed that there was about one episode of accidental awareness in every 15,000 general anaesthetics cases in the three million UK operations in 2011.
