Medica2015_Dienstag

TUESDAY @ MEDICA2 EH @ MEDICA No 2 2015 Report: Mark Nicholls With 3-D printing revolutionising manufacturing, its healthcare poten- tial is being explored for medical devices, prosthetics, dentistry and drug development. One area under the spotlight is the creation of artificial muscles using a 3-D printing system. In early November, Dr Fergal Coulter, who has played an impor- tant role in helping develop the tech- nique, led discussions on the concept during a session at the EHI Live con- ference in England. During our European Hospital interview, he outlined the manufac- turing process, which he invented for his PhD, to create a system that could fabricate tubular artificial muscles. His focus was on Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs), which he proposes could be used poten- tially to create a fully implantable, electrically actuated, cardiac assist device. Bio-robotic devices and prosthetics Coulter, currently with University College Dublin and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, said Dielectric Elastomers are a sub- class of electro-active polymers, often referred to as ‘smart materials’ or ‘artificial muscles’. Whilst the technology is still evolv- ing, there is hope that they can eventually be used within in-vivo bio- robotic devices and prosthetics. The process to create the artificial muscle or cardiac device involves a 3-D printer capable of spraying multi- ple thin layers of silicone in a tubular fashion on to a rotating form, or mandrel. ‘These layers can be used as part of a solid state actuator, which when stimulated with a voltage will expand in area and, in doing so, act to pump blood – or any other fluid – in a peristaltic fashion,’ Coulter explained. ‘I designed the mandrel in such a way that compressed air can be passed through it from its central core to outer surface. Doing so has the effect of inflating the silicone layers, imparting a mechanical strain in the elastomer. This strain greatly improves the actuators’ efficiency and reliability.’ With a need to maintain some of the mechanical strain after the ‘bal- loon’ is deflated, he designed and built the printer so it could measure – via a 3-D scan - the shape of the inflated structure, then calculate and print the geometry required for the extrusion of a hard but collapsible support lattice around the outside of the balloon. ‘When the compressed German hospitals continue to face big economic challenges. Many clini- cal processes and workflows need to be controlled in a better way and require reorganisation to ensure survival. In the hospital of the future information technology (IT) will play a central role – from the manage- the expansion of IT infrastructures. This is also a political topic. Controlling clinical processes with IT The Federal Government is using the ‘Law on Safe Digital Communication and Applications in the Healthcare ment of administrative and medical data to the networking with other hospitals to obtain fast access to diagnostic results etc. Therefore we should look at how hospital opera- tors can be supported and encour- aged to increase their investments in Sector’ (E-Health-Law) to pave the way for a speedy expansion of a comprehensive digital infrastructure with a mandatory timetable. Simultaneously, there will be financial incentives for surgeries and hospitals to digitise data sets for emergency cases and to switch to electronic letters. However, there are still data protection issues and the subject of patients’ rights of self-gov- ernance over their healthcare data to be resolved. The Study ‘Digitisation of the Healthcare Industry’ was introduced dur- ing the Conference on Health Economics in Hamburg: ‘How far along on the way towards Medicine 4.0 are German hospitals?’ Rochus Mummert Healthcare Consulting asked 310 execu- tives in German hospitals. On the way to Medicine 4.0 Three out of four German hospitals are – at least in indi- vidual projects – already on the way to Medicine 4.0. Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed stated that they have a cross-company digital strategy, 46% referred to individual digital projects already implemented in daily routine and 10% stated they were running test projects that are not yet completed. Eight percent are currently only watching develop- ments in this field from the sidelines and 8% have not had any exposure to it at all. The largest obstacle on the way to Medicine 4.0 is lack of finance – con- firmed by 65% of all those surveyed – and 41% believe that the largest obstacle is particularly a general fear of change in hospitals. Two among every three hospital executives really do want to work in a more digitised environment. A further quarter could imagine themselves doing so, but would like to slow down the speed of this digital transformation. However, those currently only just applying for jobs in the sector have to demonstrate a little more enthusi- asm about their digital affinity. In the future, every other new job profile for business executives in the hospi- tal will need digital know-how. Every other hospital also deems medical and nursing care of patients as suitable areas for digitisation. When asked which area will ben- efit most from information technol- ogy, 83% of those surveyed first stat- ed purchasing, followed by admin- istration, resource planning, finance and accounting. Around half voted for medical/nursing care. Asked in which departments the workflows in the hospital will be changed the most through increas- ing digitisation over the next five to 10 years, 62 percent stated that they believe it would be administra- tive tasks, expecting a reduction in bureaucracy. 49 percent expect big changes in medical care and 37 per- cent also expect there to be changes in nursing care. The digital transformation to Medicine 4.0 will definitely be a hos- pital topic. With professional intro- duction, this should not only benefit the budget but also the efficiency of employees’ daily routines. 3-D prThe digitisation of healthcare economyFor years discussions have been rife regarding the economic efficiency and efficiency of information and communication technology. In Germany the need is to catch up with the interoperability of technical standards and cross-industry approaches, Anja Behringer reports Source:Shutterstock/InGreen EH @ MEDICA No 22015

Pages Overview