At Medica 2009, Julie Shimer, CEO of Welch Allyn, described her company’s future plans in an interview with European Hospital. Medica 2010 brought us another opportunity to meet, this time to hear how those aims were achieved in the past year.
"Some progress, but the big challenges remain". This was the verdict after the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) hosted the 2010 European Summit on CVD Prevention on 30 November. The summit was attended by a broad cross-section of medical experts, healthcare organisations, national societies, regulators and representatives from the European Union (EU). The aim of this bi-annual event is to…
Even though the use of implantable devices for the treatment of heart failure and heart rhythm disturbances has increased enormously in Europe in recent years, there still remain large differences between countries. Indeed, a report last year in the European Journal of Heart Failure found that there is an underuse of devices in many of the European countries surveyed.(1) This is especially so in…
The future of colon cancer screening may be surprisingly simple. ColoMarker™, an innovative blood test to detect the early stages of colon cancer is generating plenty of attention from a wide audience, including from some of the world’s leading researchers in cancer biomarkers and gastrointestinal medicine.
The Infinity is a pre-configured multiparametric monitor for adult, paediatric and neonate monitoring in intensive care units, rescue units, emergency, nurse and surgical centres.
Olympus Deutschland GmbH (http://www.olympus.de) is at Medica showing its integrated system for LESS surgery. Laparoscopic surgery involves an insufflation of the abdomen with carbon dioxide gas, Olympus explains.
Endoscopy has advanced dramatically in the past 10 years with innovative technologies introduced by industry and novel procedures pioneers by physicians. Given a choice among the broad range of new tools and techniques, endoscopic surgeons have decided they want it all. And they are asking for more.
The Siemens sector Healthcare has developed the new consulting model “Act on Stroke”, tailored specifically to clinical workflows in the treatment of stroke. Following models for industry processes, an expert team from Siemens evaluates the maturity level of clinical processes in a hospital.
In technical terms ‘hybrid’ is a system that connects two technologies so they may benefit from each other. This also applies to the newest generation of operating theatre*: hybrid OTs combine diagnostic and surgical facilities that are usually found in separate locations. Thus procedures can be carried out in less time and involve less discomfort and risk for the patient.
Diabetics can face a five times increase in the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) than non-diabetics. This leads to a seven to ten year reduction in life expectancy and a higher probability of suffering a fatal heart attack. These sad statistics have prompted the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) to mark World Diabetes Day on 14 November by emphasising the simple measures that…
The Linde Group’s global business unit Linde Healthcare today announced it has launched the Linde Healthcare REALfund in September. The fund is intended to support and stimulate novel and innovative ideas, research and projects relating to the use of gases in certain therapeutic focus areas of healthcare.
The project consortium Alarm has developed new software to enable a computer-assisted triage-system for mass accidents and catastrophes. Torsten Schröder, emergency physician at the Charité Clinic for Anaesthesiology, with the focus on operative Intensive Care Medicine in Berlin, gave a mid-term review of the project and explained the advantages of the IT-supported triage-system for…
Every year in German hospitals about 15,000 patients acquire ventilation-associated pneumonias (VAP). This number, and the associated mortality, is striking enough to make it one of the topics at HAI 2010, the annual conference of the German Society for Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI). Like many physicians, Dr Maria Deja, senior physician at the Charité Clinic for…
Critical care, worldwide, has been closely related to anaesthesia and traditionally considered the role of anaesthetist. However, about 30 years ago critical care expanded and intensive care unit (ICU) teams increasingly spread expertise to critically ill patients in other hospital wards, ultimately to become intrinsic in decisions on patients with co-morbities.
For many ICU patients, entering the Kloster Grafschaft, in Schmallenberg, Germany, a hospital specialised in pneumology and allergology, is a last resort. On average, they have been in an ICU for seven weeks and have failed three attempts to be weaned from the ventilator. They have been deemed ‘unweanable’.
He was among the pioneers of hospital digitization. Way back in 1988, Professor Walter Hruby, Chair of the Institute for Radiological Diagnostics at the Donauspital Vienna, in Austria, decided that, when his hospital opened its doors, state-of-the-art technology would be implemented. Thus, in 1992, the Donauspital became Europe’s first, fully-digitised hospital. Today, recollecting that…
With the “World Stroke Day” the World Stroke Organization (WSO) aims to communicate a unified message to the world: stroke is a preventable and treatable catastrophe, and together we can fight this growing epidemic. This year’s theme is “Stroke‐What can I do?” The answer is ‐ a lot. The WSO prompts individuals, groups and governments to take action against stroke either at a…
Used in numerous orthopaedic medical procedures, PMMA is a self-curing two component system that includes liquid and powder components. The liquid is methylmethacrylate monomer, a known deadly toxin, and PMMA toxicity is well documented in medical journals and regulatory publications. After many years of reported patient issues related to PMMA, doctors began calling these surgical complications…
The new surgical wing at Knappschafts Hospital in Bottrop, Germany, has exceeded all expectations. In four years the concept has increased available operation times by over 30%. We asked the project supervisor, Dr Peter Hügler, who heads the Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy Clinic, how such a significant success was realised.
One year after boldly launching a far-reaching programme for reforming France’s troubled hospitals a newly created French agency has surprised its detractors and created a way forward.
The British government’s plans to introduce wider choice and shared decision making within the NHS may be challenging to implement, says an expert on bmj.com. In its new plans for the NHS, the government wants to extend the offer of choice beyond what is currently available to include choice of specialist team, choice of general practice, and choice of treatment. But do patients want a choice…
“The current shift of healthcare towards a systemic and holistic understanding of the causes of diseases is a true scientific revolution,“ Prof. Dr. Angela Brand said today at the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG). Prof. Brand, Director of the European Centre for Public Health Genomics hosted at Maastricht University, added that the “next-generation sequencing technologies are opening…
Siemens Healthcare and the Cardio-Thoracic Center of Monaco (CCM) signed a partnership contract in Monaco. Within the framework of this contract, CCM was nominated the first “Siemens European Reference Center Cardiovascular Medicine". The strategic partnership is dedicated to the entire spectrum of cardiovascular medicine with the objective to develop innovative solutions for the treatment…
Whenever a clinic sets up a new operating room or intensive care unit, the equipment should be able to meet all requirements for the next 20 years. At the same time, however, tight budgets increasingly restrict many hospitals’ freedom to act.
Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) division developed and supplied monitors exclusively for Siemens Medical until, about 20 years ago, the customer base expanded and A&D ultimately supplied almost all major medical technology firms with monitors for integration into their systems. In 2007, Siemens decided to focus on its core business and sell off its medical monitors division.