
Fast track surgery
`The term fast track surgery refers to a combination of findings from current, high quality studies of anaesthetics, surgery and perioperative care for a certain medical indication,´ explained Professor Schwenk.

`The term fast track surgery refers to a combination of findings from current, high quality studies of anaesthetics, surgery and perioperative care for a certain medical indication,´ explained Professor Schwenk.
In Europe today, obesity is assuming epidemic proportions.

A system that aims to prevent newborns from being swapped or kidnapped in hospitals, has received the RFID Award in the German Innovations Prize 2007, granted by Initiative Mittelstand, an association for small and medium businesses.
Improving patient safety and quality of care is of key importance for European citizens, and both the European Commission and Member States (MS) expect great benefits from new, information and communication technology (ICT)-based healthcare solutions.
To help improve transfusion safety, in accordance with EU Directive 2002/98/EC, the Dutch National Haemovigilance Office, TRIP, receives and analyses reports of transfusion reactions and promotes haemovigilance.

France - The country's health ministry is facing growing calls for a full public inquiry after allegations that surgeons have been demanding huge cash payments from patients keen to jump hospital waiting lists, and for charging exorbitant fees for "private" operations.

The beautiful weather not only causes high spirit but also seasonal allergies. And as every year, over-the-counter allergy medications are booming, whereas most of the patients are extremely thoughtless concerning the use of antihistamines, not being aware of the side effects.

Due to a revised EU law, manufactures of medical devices are forced to label certain chemical ingredients in their products. This decision will enable hospitals to protect their patients against harm caused by toxic devices - if they are interested in. Because alternative products of course are connected with higher costs.

The MPOWER project aims to help older people to live independently and well, in their own homes, for as long as possible.

IT introduction is increasingly considered a strategic element, since it is capable of supporting different decision processes at various levels (top management, middle management and professionals) and guiding them towards concrete objectives: cost control and containment, improved efficiency, evaluation and enhancement of service quality.

Despite thorough cleansing, endoscopy tools can be re-contaminated because non-sterile water is used for the final rinse.
According to figures released in 2006 by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), around 14 million children, aged 7-11 years, are overweight - and three million of these are obese.

Every day, patients are admitted to surgeries, hospitals and outpatient clinics with chronic wounds. Careful inspection gives a wound therapist clues to the appropriate primary care required even before further diagnostic procedures are carried out. So what do the clinical signs and symptoms tell us? Report: Heidi Heinold

The Martini Clinic, a private clinic located at the Hamburg-Eppendorf University Hospital (UKE), specialises exclusively in the diagnosis and therapy of one medical condition: prostate cancer.

GE Healthcare and Germany's DGAI (the country's society for anaesthesiology and intensive care) are offering their first clinical sciences research prize, worth 60,000 euros. To be funded by GE for the next three years, the award aims to promote comprehension of clinical practice in anaesthesiology, intensive care and emergency medicine and pain therapy, via intensive clinical research.

Basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), particularly when performed immediately by those witnessing a cardiac or respiratory arrest, definitively saves lives - especially in witnessed cases of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and childhood drowning events. Nevertheless, the frequency of bystander CPR still remains mostly low. In turn, survival chances for potentially salvageable patients remain…
Martin von Bergh MD PhD MBA, founder and CEO of Global Medical Consulting, is a practicing medical doctor, emergency physician and disaster manager, with an MBA in International Hospital Management.

Vital patient-related data must be documented by emergency medical services, disaster relief units and emergency physicians, in out-of-hospital settings, and currently most of this is done entered manually on paper.

TSI's battery-operated Certifier FA and Certifier FA Plus flow analysers.

In 2006 blood gas analysers and monitors earned manufacturers revenues of around US$360.5 million, and revenues could reach US$470 million in 2013, according to a new market report from Frost & Sullivan (F&S).

'Over 230 established and emerging international leaders in intensive care and emergency medicine will provide participants with a state-of-the art review of the most recent advances in diagnosis, monitoring, and management of critically ill patients,' Jean-Louis Vincent, Head of the Department of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Free University of Brussels, Belgium, promises the expected 5,000…

Many French pharmacists are falling on hard times after a year of falling revenues. Those most affected are in rural or semi-rural areas, where there is a growing shortage of doctors willing to set up practice or where resident GPs are leaving for the more populous towns.

In 2006, the German Medical Devices Industry grew by 8,7 % to 16 Euro billion. Major force behind this growth was export, which grew by 12,8 %, while the main export countries were EU member states, followed by North America. Domestic growth was disappointing.

Good news for overworked hospital staff: Maybe in just a few years they will be supported by little robots that could clean up the sickrooms, look for the doctor or show visitors the right way. A new EU project led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO should make this scenario possible.