Major disasters and natural catastrophes occur all the time – but in most cases we are only aware of them as images in the news on our TV screens or in the newspapers. Fortunately, most European hospitals are confronted with such major events only occasionally.
The lives of people who find communication difficult are to be dramatically improved following a report published by Devices for Dignity (D4D), into Voice Output Communications Aids (VOCAs). The free to access report, whose development was led by Barnsley Hospital and NHS Sheffield as part of a D4D consortium, is designed to improve the development of new technologies and stimulate further…
It turns out to be difficult to find out exactly how much a child who cannot yet speak suffers after a surgical operation. Researchers at the University Hospital of La Paz, in Madrid, have validated the 'Llanto' scale, the first, and only, tool in Spanish which measures infant pain rapidly and simply.
The 12th EFORT Congress, celebrating the 20th year of the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, aims to update knowledge of any specialty or subspecialty involving the diagnosis and management of bone and joint problems. The event will draw experts from over 30 European countries, and also benefit from specific contributions from Nordic countries.
It was difficult to sing along in Farsi with the Iranian musical group at the Austria Centre Vienna, a first-ever event for the European Congress of Radiology. European radiologists were far more familiar with the work of their colleagues from Teheran, who have increased their participation in the ECR yearly and who have published their works in English for seven years in the Iranian Journal of…
When thinking about sharing radiological data within a multi-site center or even within a region, the initial question that arises always sounds the same: How should we cross-link all the data from the existing PACS solutions without going bankrupt? Because drawing a line and installing new systems all over the site in most of the cases is simply not affordable. On the other hand, the…
Adults with congenital heart failure (CHD) are a growing special subset of patients with specific needs; most need lifelong care, but in adulthood many fail to receive it. By Holger Zorn
Mechanical suturing tools are an indispensable part of modern surgery. Gastro-intestinal surgery as well as minimally invasive surgeries, would be unthinkable without this technology, a growing sub-market in an ever-growing industry, possibly driven by the patient’s benefit, writes Holger Zorn.
You often need the vision of a hypermetropic eagle to find Malta on the world map – even its name fills more space than the representation of the island itself. And yet, in the Eurobarometer 2010 survey, among the recent European Union Member States, the Maltese showed an unusually high level of consent (72%) to organ donation and 77% are willing to donate their own organs, making us a beacon…
Rapid technological progress and the changed working patterns of surgeons has greatly increased the demand of simulated training in the United Kingdom, notes Professor Mike Larvin, Director of RCS Education at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, where a new Education and Simulation Centre is incorporating state-of-the-art education and training facilities in response to those changes.
Doctors who used a free iPhone application provided by the UK Resuscitation Council performed significantly better in a simulated medical emergency than those who did not, according to a study in the April issue of Anaesthesia.
The critical care expertise available before a severely injured person can be admitted to hospital is “incomplete, unpredictable, and inconsistent,” shows research published online in Emergency Medicine Journal. Ambulance services are often reliant on volunteer doctors with variable levels of expertise and the availability of specialist doctors is patchy, particularly over evenings or…
This is the claim made by Dr Paula Meier during event discussions in the lead up to Medela’s 6th International Breastfeeding and Lactation Symposium (Amsterdam, 15-16 April 2011). Although the benefits of human milk for infants in neonatal intensive care units is widely accepted, there has been a lack of focus on how to encourage and support mothers of preterm infants to stimulate and…
Cold is not only a winter topic. Cold is also applied medicine: Moderate to deep hypothermia made cardiac surgery possible and mild therapeutic hypothermia improves survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. By Holger Zorn
A study conducted at the University of Granada reveals that patients have greater expectations of their family doctor listening actively to them, keeping them informed and considering their opinions than in getting involved in decision making. For the purpose of this study, researchers took a sample of 360 patients aged 16-47 years, assisted at the Health Center Gran Capitán in Granada.
For 170 years, the German firm seca has set worldwide standards for medical scales and measuring stations. Today, its products are used by medical teams in 110 countries, measuring a range of patients from tiny premature babies to adults weighing 300kg and basket ball players soaring to 7’ 4” high.
Today’s first European Epilepsy Day sees the launch of Epilepsy In Our Time, an exploration of the lives of five people living with epilepsy across Europe today, through their own video diaries. Lloyd, Marion, Monica, David and Julie invite you to take a look at their personal experiences of living with epilepsy and their hopes for the future.
With its spotlight theme of ‘Controversial Issues in Cardiology’, the 2011 edition of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress promises lively discussions and ground-breaking debate. The ESC Congress is well established as the world’s premier cardiovascular conference and regularly attracts around 30,000 international cardiologists and members of related professions through its…
Endoscopy has advanced dramatically in the past decade with innovative technologies introduced by industry and novel procedures pioneered by physicians. Given a choice among the broad range of new tools, endoscopic surgeons simply want it all -- and are asking for more. During the Medica 2010 Congress, the Innovations in Endoscopy session rang with the word ‘combinations’.
Cornelis Van De Velde, Professor of Surgical Oncology at the Leiden University Medical Centre, in the Netherlands, and President of the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO), describes the work and aims of the society within the EU.
Innumerable studies (e.g. Ceriello A., et. al. 2006) have shown that postprandial hyperglycaemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in all populations. In diabetics, according to IDF figures, CVD is even the major cause of death (some 50 % of all diabetes fatalities) and much disability. ‘Therefore, the primary goal in diabetes treatment should be not only lowering…
Smooth, flawlessly running reprocessing systems ensure regulatory hygiene standards as well as the constant availability of all endoscopes. To this end, along with the established Partnership and Complete Coverage Contracts for endoscopy, Olympus Deutschland GmbH has developed CDS Care and CDS Care+ Contracts and a Validation Service.
Different tests bring different results, and results of the same types of test vary from laboratory to laboratory. "In the case of test procedures for autoimmune diseases there are incredible discrepancies," confirmed Professor Manfred Herold, head of the Laboratory for Rheumatism at the University Clinic for Internal Medicine One, Innsbruck. The reason: "There are no standards for…
With over 6,000 employees serving over 50 different departments, the 1,062-bed university hospital UZ Gent is Belgium’s largest single hospital campus. Managing all the imaging data from such a huge institution – as well as establishing a network with about 30 partner hospitals and other caregivers – suggests a quite tricky task. Tricky, but not impossible, as Professor Bart Sijnave, Chief…
While Contec’s broad range covers 13 product categories, the accent over the past year has been on enhancing patient-centred devices with fresh features developed by the firm’s research & development team. For example, while the typical screen size for patient monitors is 12-inches, Contec recently introduce models that both increase and reduce that size in response to customer demand.