Light that throws no shadows
Designed for diagnostics, minor surgery and universal applications, the Soled LED examination light is a helpful tool for use in intensive care units, the recovery room, for first aid and more.
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.
Toshiba presents advances in Cardiac Imaging at ESC 2012
Cardiology is playing an increasingly important role in today’s healthcare environment and, as a direct result, cardiologists are facing new challenges almost every day. Addressing the need of improving clinician confidence and diagnostic accuracy, Toshiba Medical Systems Europe presented two symposia on the first day of the European Congress of Cardiology, to be held in Munich, Germany, 25-28…
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…
Advances in mitral valve replacement
Initially limited to the aortic valve, interventions are becoming routine for the mitral valve. Thus the only available product has enjoyed huge commercial success – until now. Report: Holger Zorn
England creates multiple Major Trauma Centres
Around 20,000 people become major trauma victims every year in England. Studies have shown that Major Trauma Centres (MTCs) with dedicated personnel and specialist equipment save more lives and reduce the risk of serious disability. Thus, to offer such victims better chances of survival, a new network of 22 MTCs has been established across the country to provide centralised care, with experts…
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.
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
The PARTNER Trial
Cohort A and B Results. Aortic stenosis is characterised by the hardening and narrowing of the aortic valve that pumps blood into the body’s main artery. It affects nearly 5% of those over 75 in Europe, with an estimated 16,000 Britons suffering from severe aortic stenosis.
Precision scales save lives
There are times when the timely detection of a patient’s weight change could save a life. Regular weight checks can reveal an unexplained loss of fluids due to diarrhoea, vomiting and third-degree burns in time to prevent complications.
The 40th International Congress of Intensive Care Medicine
Held at La Defense in January, the International Congress of Intensive Care Medicine, sponsored by Société de Réanimation de Langue Française (SRLF) – the French Society for Intensive Care – is, with more than 3,500 participants, one of the major intensive care meetings to take place in 2012, Jane Mac Dougall reports.
Peripheral arterial occlusive disease Long balloons are the gold standard
Every year, around 80,000 lower extremities in Europe have to be (partially) amputated as a result of peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). Half of the affected patients die within five years of the amputation.
IT helps ensure patient safety in the ICU – and beyond
Integrated information management reduces risks and cuts cost, Finn Snyder reports. Intensive care units (ICUs) are vital in healthcare. ICUs in US hospitals, for example, treat six million of the sickest and oldest patients annually, according to a document recently published for the Massachusetts Technology Park Corporation, which states that choices about how to manage them carry high stakes:
Better safe than sorry
Five recommendations to prevent central venous catheter-related infections. Catheter-related bloodstream infections are the third frequent infection in the intensive care unit (ICU) after pneumonia and peritonitis worldwide. The incidence of CVC infections lies between 1-4 for 1,000 catheterdays. This means for the USA, as an example, that more than five million patients annually need a central…
Ambulance paramedics switch to on the spot electronic reporting
A British ambulance service has successfully made the transition from paperbased patient reporting to a fully electronic system enabling paramedics to capture patient data at the scene of an incident and transmit it to the receiving hospital ahead of arrival at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) unit.
The UK’s National Proton Beam Therapy Service
PBT uses a high-energy beam of particles to destroy cancer cells by more accurately targeting the affected areas and is particularly suitable for complex childhood cancers. It also increases success rates and reduces side effects, such as deafness, loss of IQ and secondary cancers.
Better therapeutic results urgently required in chronic wound management
Every year in Germany, four million wounds leave a legacy of 30 000 amputations and six billion Euros in treatment costs. These shocking figures drew wound experts to the Pflege Kongress 2012 (2012 Care Congress) held in Berlin.
Wound healing
Modern wound management can shorten treatment and turn in-patient treatment into out-patient care, reducing time and costs. It’s all down to today’s more sophisticated materials.
Lights, music, action…
The patient is soothed and ready for proton therapy
Birmingham hospital leads the way on hourly nursing rounds
Patients in the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham are already enjoying the benefits of the scheme which aims to tailor nursing care to their individual needs via hourly nurse rounds. The Care Round initiative was introduced to all 28 inpatient wards at the hospital in March 2011 with the aim of supporting nursing on the wards.
Doom and gloom but yes, there’s hope and even health-promoting laughter…
Health-promoting laughter… As our year ends amid depressing global economic uncertainty, budget and staff cutbacks, threats to healthcare workers’ pensions and much else, some events shine brightly through, writes EH Editor Brenda Marsh. ‘These confirm that vision, courage and laughter can indeed cure many ills’
Touch screen cardiopulmonary diagnostics
Schiller reports that its new range of touch screen ECG systems combines precision performance and attractive ergonomics. With a touch to the large, high-resolution colour display, 12-lead ECGs and pulmonary function tests can be recorded, selected and printed in seconds.
Visceral medicine in 2011
Excising the entire cancer tumour from the stomach prevents relapses. This procedure can now be performed endoscopically. Holger Zorn reports from the Visceral Medicine 2011 Congress in Leipzig.
Trail blazing bariatric surgery devices
Major advances in Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) lead to a tremendous interest in new surgical endoscopes. The advantages of minimally invasive surgery via natural body orifices, such as the mouth, are obvious: less post-operative pain, a minor infection rate, minor incisional hernia, shorter hospitalisation and, finally, better cosmetic results. Karoline Laarmann reports
News • MEDICA
At the IBHI UK Pavilion
London firm Max Medical Products Ltd is at Medica for the first time to demonstrate its quality diagnostic devices, first aid equipment and medical disposables.
