Health IT – Italian style
Unstructured workflow’ sounds like a contradiction in terms. Yet, this fresh approach for gathering individual patient records in the Veneto region of Italy is being rapidly adopted across Europe to improve care.
Security
Healthcare needs automatic identification data capture
We are used to barcode scanning in supermarkets, our luggage being barcode tagged at airports and much else, yet in healthcare the use of Automatic Identification Data Capture (AI DC) technology – such as barcodes or Radio Frequency Identification (RFI D), is still rather rare, says Christian Hay of GS1* Switzerland.
Reading the changing face of lab medicine
The 24th International Symposium of the AACC Critical & Point of Care Testing Division. Report: Michael Reiter
Acute hospital care in England could be on the verge of collapse
With growing bed shortages and increased demand on clinical services, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) says that the country’s National Health Service (NHS) is approaching the point where acute care cannot keep pace in its current form, Mark Nicholls reports
News • Pathology
The future of pathology informatics
The Pathology Informatics Summit last October in Chicago showed that fast-moving trends are reshaping how clinical laboratories and pathology groups use information technology, in particular laboratory information systems (LIS), to deliver more value to physicians and patients.
Defining Tomorrow’s Legislation on the Privacy
COCIR applauds the Commission’s courageous move to harmonise the EU’s legal framework on data protection through the adoption of a EU Regulation, as proposed earlier this year. COCIR has today published its position paper on the proposal.
Mobile technologies potential in the field of public health
Over the last few decades healthcare costs have been skyrocketing, something often discussed on this blog as it has become a considerable problem for many different countries.
News • New take on AI
Patients with adrenal insufficiency need improved management
The largest ever, worldwide AI patient survey data presented at the 15th Congress of the European NeuroEndocrine Association (ENEA), Vienna, Austria. 87% of secondary AI patients and 60% of primary AI patients reported that their condition affected quality of life.
Crisis as an opportunity
Rarely have the topics at the EHFG been so relevant to the current international economic crisis – reason enough for EH correspondent Christian Pruszinsky to interview the Forum’s founder and outgoing President Professor Günther Leiner.
The chronic lack of donor organs
4,500 scientists, transplant teams and related social groups from 94 countries gathered in Berlin for the International Congress of the Transplant Society.
France: Almost 30% of medical acts are unjustified
A recent poll of more than 800 hospitals and private doctors reveals that only 72% of medical acts are fully justified. In conclusion 30% of all medical acts in France are unjustified and it also shows that most of the practitioners are willing to open a debate on this matter.
Battling against hospital acquired infections
Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) are among the most common complications during a hospital and care home stay in the West (although they also occur in developing countries, with even an assumed higher incidence), causing enormous strain for those affected as well as high follow-on costs for healthcare systems.
Organ donation
Rumour had it for a while, and many found out when the bomb was finally dropped at, of all places, the Congress of the International Transplantation Society, held in Berlin this July – the waiting list for donor organs in the database of the Eurotransplant Foundation had been manipulated.
Unnerved by denervation
Cardiologists are increasingly concerned about patients with persistent hypertension demanding a new technique, in the absence of clinical proof of its long-term benefit. As more related devices are launched, John Brosky reports on the procedure, drawbacks, and a potential €2 billion market.
A women's heart too often kills her
The biggest cause of death for most adult women in industrialised nations is coronary heart disease (CHD). Why the disease affects the genders differently is still not fully understood. European Hospital Editor Brigitte Dinkloh asked Professor Rafaelle Bugiardini MD FESC, from the Department of Internal Medicine Department, University of Bologna, whether he could explain the reasons and what…
Cloud computing
The storage and retrieval of an ever increasing volume of imaging data is raising hospital IT managers’ interest in sharing computing resources via the Internet, thus saving on storage space, hardware and software costs and concerns over data security. Mark Nicholls spoke with Saskia Groeneveld, Carestream’s Regional Marketing Manager (Healthcare Information Solutions), about the company’s…
Carestream Health Sponsors Industry Discussion On Cloud Computing in Italy
As part of the recent annual Heathcare Summit organised by Sole 24 ORE in Milan, Italy, Carestream Health sponsored a round table discussion on cloud computing. The Summit is an established event in Italy and is attended by Government and regional officials and companies contracted by the Italian Ministry of Health. Carestream is one of the world’s leading providers of cloud infrastructure,…
New National Screening Program for Men in Scotland
NHSScotland has selected the international IT services company Atos, in partnership with IMAGE Information Systems, to support the roll-out of a new national screening program’s IT system for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA). Currently, there is no existing vascular screening system worldwide.
EU healthy life expectancy
The European Joint Action on Healthy Life Years (EHLEIS) project, led by France and coordinated by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), has produced some interesting statistics. EH Paris correspondent Annick Chappoy reports
Save money: improve pain care in hospitals
Only individualised pharmacotherapy can maintain the quality of life for patients suffering from severe pain – and the benefit for the healthcare system is a resulting reduction in costs. A report by Anja Behringer.
Medical Transcription and Health Information Security
In July 2011 the Defense Department of the United States lost approximately 24,000 sensitive Pentagon files in a large-scale cyber attack. If you know anything about the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), you know that it is arguably one of the highest-priority sectors of the American government. Report: Abigale Washford
Surgeons ‘fire a warning shot’ over Germany’s hospitals
Are surgeons still opting for surgical procedures solely for medical need – or are economics forcing their decisions? That vexatious question, posed at the 129th Congress of the German, was spurned at the outset by Markus W Büchler MD, President of the Society and Medical Director of the Department of General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery at University Hospital Heidelberg. ‘We surgeons…
Safer sleep, safer sugar
Ensuring the safety of hospitalised patients is vital – and brought under a particularly strong focus in anaesthesiology. Launched in 2010, the Helsinki Declaration provided a further boost. Report: Holger Zorn
Teleradiology use in Europe
A new survey brings fresh insight into radiologists’ thoughts on teleradiology in Europe. Conducted by radiologist Dr Erik Ranschaert from the Jeroen Bosch Hospital, Den Bosch, The Netherlands, the findings were presented in March to a Special Focus Session at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna. Mark Nicholls reports.
New network could lower accidents mortality
Surgeons and radiologists unite to ease image transfers. Around 30-35,000 people a year are severely injured in accidents and need urgent, appropriate and competent care within minutes. The TeleCooperation TNW project, a new development in Germany’s medical care for severely injured patients, links with several hundred hospitals to ensure the rapid transfer of image data across the country.
