Editorial

Authors R Shakir President W Carroll First Vice-President W Grisold Secretary-Treasurer General World Federation of Neurology London, United Kingdom www.wfneurology.org @wfneurology On 22July 2014, the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) launched World Brain Day, dedicated to bringing more attention to brain health and the prevention of brain diseases. Brain disorders, comprising mental, n...

Imaging Editor-in-Chief Prof. Lluís Donoso Bach, Hospital Clinic – University of Barcelona, Spain Honorary Board Member Prof. Iain McCall, UK (Retired) Editorial Board Members Prof. Stephen Baker, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, U.S. Prof. Hans Blickman, University of Rochester Medical Center, U.S. Prof. Georg Bongartz, University of Basel, Switzerland Prof. Davide Caramella, Universi...

Authors Marwan Abedin, UAE Dubai: A Global Healthcare Hub Soon Luis A. Bastiao Silva, Portugal Integrity and the Personal Health Record Prof. Christoph D. Becker, Switzerland The Modern Radiology Department Prof. H. P. Busch, Germany Leadership - Knowledge, Hints and Ideas Prof. Davide Caramella, Italy How to Communicate Radiation Dose and Contrast Media Information Dr. Áine Car...

Cover Story

Why is high-intensity focused ultrasound being explored to treat the brain? For a number of brain disorders focused ultrasound (FUS) will represent a treatment that is either superior to best current therapy, or fulfils an unmet clinical need. The driving factor is a validation of the technology. It doesn’t take an enormous leap of faith to appreciate that if you can treat something deep in the brain in...

On the occasion of Esaote’s recent launch of their latest mobile ultrasound diagnostic systems MyLab™ Gamma and MyLab™ Six, HealthManagement sat down with Carlos Faustmann to talk about Esaote’s approach and strategy in the highly competitive ultrasound market. Congratulations on the launch. It appears these new machines are the perfect diagnostic tools at an affordable price. Please tell us more....

Authors Prof. Karl A. Stroetmann empirica Communication & Technology Research Bonn, Germany School of Health Information Science University of Victoria, BC, Canada Dr. Rainer Thiel empirica Communication & Technology Research Bonn, Germany [email protected] Dr. Veli Stroetmann, MD empirica Communication & Technology Research Bonn, Germany Key Points • As more peo...

Key Points • The brain itself is “big data”: coordinated systems, which continually process and produce voluminous information. • Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia disrupt neural systems with devastating consequences. Fortunately, big data can offer preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic healthcare solutions. • A number of projects around the world are being coordinated for dementi...

As the newly installed President of the European Society of Neuroradiology (ESNR), what are your goals for your term of office? The ESNR is a professional society with more than 3,000 members. A strategic plan and mission for the ESNR was initiated a few years ago. Under my presidency we will expand, improve and update this concept. The ESNR will continue to invest heavily in education, work on a comprehen...

As healthcare faces up to the promises and challenges of big data, HealthManagement spoke to Dr. Dirk Colaert, Chief Medical Officer at Agfa Healthcare, on the evolution of healthcare against the background of big data. Big data is an abstract term, but in healthcare the data represent very personal information. Do you see this as a paradox? Big data is a buzzword without concrete meaning. It refers to b...

Key Points • Psychiatric drugs are among the most profitable products for the pharmaceutical industry. • Despite this, investment in psychiatric drug development continues to decline. • A major reason may be the fact that there has been no major breakthrough in this area of drug development for the last thirty years. • Several “me-too” products have been launched, but the primary molecular...

Management Matrix

Senior managers must prepare their organisation for tomorrow's world, in which the quality of the results of holistically designed meta-processes counts. Their remit goes far beyond achieving successful daily management structures, and demands a new set of qualities. These include the capacity to envision future scenarios and be answerable for their implementation. This means exploring unknown territory an...

Key Points • Having clinicians involved in management improves outcomes for patients and saves money. • Partnerships between clinicians, professional organisations and managers has allowed spread of innovation at scale in Ireland. • Clinicians and managers are together the stewards of healthcare. • “what’s well-made endures, and shines on”. Healthcare is one of the most hazardous industries i...

Key Points • The economic and social development of the leading industrialised countries is significantly determined by economic cycles that last between 40 and 60 years. • In honour of their discoverer Nikolai Kondratieff, these long waves are called Kondratieff cycles. • A new long cycle, the sixth Kondratieff cycle began around the turn of this past century. • This article describes why heal...

Key Points • Radiological technology is shifting from a “disruptive” period to a sustaining phase. • Challenges include tissue characterisation and microresolution, affordability and the “invisible” radiologist. • Opportunities include quantitative imaging and interventional radiology. • In vitro diagnostics will change radiological screening policy. • Automation may have a mixed impa...

Key Points • Radiology departments need to communicate with patients about radiation dose and contrast media to confirm with the new European directive. • Departments must track radiation dose, and be prepared for the additional workload this requires. • Radiation dose information and quality assurance can be a marketing tool for departments. Public awareness and concern about radiation safety...

KLAS Research Orem, UT USA +1-800-920-4109 www.klasresearch.com @KLASresearch Awareness of radiation dose is a key concern for radiologists and patients on both sides of the Atlantic. A number of dose monitoring solutions are available from vendors. But what informs healthcare providers’ purchase decisions and how do they intend to use them? KLAS has issued a report Radiology Dose Monitoring Sol...

Key Points • A central, integrated radiology department offers many opportunities with regard to quality, 24/7 coverage, logistics, economics, management and specialised logistic support compared to decentralised imaging structures. • Sub-specialisation related to clinical fields and continuous participation in multidisciplinary activities in the hospital are key factors contributing to the radiologi...

Key Points• The combination of PET and MR technology is highly complementary. • The issue of accurate MR-based methods for attenuation correction of the measured PET data needs to be addressed. • PET-MR imaging is clinically indicated for certain paediatric cancers, lymphoma, breast and prostate cancers and head and neck tumours, with the benefit of reduced radiation exposure. Future applications may...

Key Points • A universal image viewer enables viewing of images across departments and enterprises, thus enhancing patient care. • A universal viewer may replace or coexist with a PACS viewer, and may be integrated with a vendor-neutral archive or electronic health record system. • Universal viewers offer a number of advanced functionalities, including viewing of DICOM and non-DICOM images and more,...

Note : RSNA recently announced an additional $1.27 million of funding from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) to support research by the Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance (QIBA). The funding will be used towards the development of a Quantitative Imaging Data Warehouse, research to characterise the sources of bias and achievable precision associated with quantitat...

Key Points • Demand increasing for medical imaging • Few unemployed radiologists • Teleradiology and outsourcing lack national legislation • Other healthcare professions are encroaching on radiology “turf” Today, European radiology lies at the centre of the healthcare chain. Nevertheless, we don’t know very much about how this profession may evolve: what will it be in the future? What is th...

Author Freeman Wong Program Manager Enterprise Imaging Repository eHealth NSW Sydney, NSW, Australia [email protected] Key Points • Background and context to the Enterprise Imaging Repository in New South Wales, Australia • Strategy of eHealth NSW • Enterprise Imaging Repository goals and objectives • Implementation challenges and critical success factors • Benefit r...

Key Points • Article discusses the contingency measures envisioned in KBC Zagreb in case of total or partial HIS outage • Important issues highlighted in case all technical risk mitigation measures failed • Scenarios described: total HIS outage or subsystem failures/disconnections for short and longer period of time • Procedures for off-HIS operation taken into account: full offline mode, docume...

Author Thomas Schönbeck Vice President Of Global Sales & Marketing at RTI Electronics, Sweden Note: This article is part of the HealthManagement.org “Point-of-View” partner programme. Interview with Thomas Schönbeck, Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing at RTI Electronics, Sweden One of the major challenges faced by today’s healthcare is quality assurance, and radiology...

Carlos Costa Assistant Professor José Luis Oliveira Associate Professor University of Aveiro, DETI / IEETA, Aveiro, Portugal BMD Software Lda Key Points • Citizens are becoming increasingly concerned about their personal health information. • Personal health records (PHR) put the control of these data in their own hands. • However, the utilisation of existing patient data (EHR, PHR) is...

Key Points • Point-of-care testing, with the advances in technology and connectivity in the last 20 years, has become a prominent laboratory service. • Point-of-care testing can significantly improve laboratory turn-around times by shortening pre- and post analytical times. • Point-of-care testing can offer easier access for patients at remote locations and other off-site areas. • Point-of-care...

There has been a lot of talk at the ESC Congress about sustainable cardiology and meaningful innovations. How does your product fit into this conversation? There are a couple of key issues in emergency medicine today, where chest pain patients are coming into overcrowded emergency rooms, experiencing long waits and are not getting the timely care they require. Because of the need to transport samples to th...

Technology Update

Identifies Opportunities for European Hospital to Improve Perioperative Efficiency Standardised perioperative process to improve orthopedic surgical throughput Introduction Accelero Health Partners was hired to evaluate the orthopedic perioperative process for a hospital in a major European city. The hospital is one of the large academic hospitals in Northern Europe with an equally large emergency departm...

In Focus

More than one million needlestick injuries (NSI) are estimated to occur in the EU each year (EU Commission for Employment 2010). Risks for healthcare workers are omnipresent, but prevention is possible and solutions exist. As promoter of cross-collaboration, leadership, best practices and patient safety, HealthManagement brings you this supplement on safety in collaboration with BD, a leading medical techno...

Unfortunately, needlestick injuries are still among the most common work-related accidents in medical and nursing professions. Experts estimate that each employee cuts or pricks himself at least once every two years. The consequences can be devastating, as in the case of Kurt Wenkenbach* (56), former manager of patient care in a nursing home. While re-capping a used insulin n...

The transmission of pathogens through blood and other body fluids represents one of the main risks in the healthcare setting. Although over 20 pathogens can be transmitted in this way, the most important are the hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) viruses and the AIDS virus (HIV). Since 2006 it has been mandatory i...

One of the most common and serious risks to healthcare workers is an infection result­ing from a sharp or needlestick injury. In Europe, approximately 8 million healthcare workers are at risk of these injuries. Even though data on the frequency of needle­stick injuries differ greatly between dif­ferent hospitals, as well as between dif­ferent units of the same hospital, t...

AuthorDr Kenneth StraussEndocrinologist and Director of Safety in Medicine, European Medical Association Global Medical Director, Becton Dickinson (BD) In the world of diabetes care, most current discussion centres on effective self-administration, accurate insulin dosage, and the avoidance of short-term lipohy­pertrophy and longer-term health com­plications resulting from...

Background The everyday activities of workers in nursing homes put them at risk of serious infections with more than 30 potentially dangerous pathogens, including Hepatitis B (HBV), hep­atitis C (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), through injuries with contami­nated needles and lancets. More than one million needle stick injuries (...

Datebook

The Conferences The Forums Globally the largest trade fair and forum for medical technology and products, this year’s Medica will welcome the world of healthcare as of November 12. For four consecutive days, Germany’s Dusseldorf Fairground will be the place to be, with organisers looking to top last year’s impressive numbers: 132,000 trade visitors from 120 countries, and 4,641 exhibitors from 66 nat...

Author N Reed Dunnick RSNA President www.rsna.org RSNA’s centennial celebrations begin at the 100th Annual Meeting and Scientific Assembly, 30 November – 5 December. Centennial Showcase The Centennial Showcase will be presented “virtually” by Wilhelm Roentgen, who will share an account of the events that sparked a specialty – and how RSNA changed the way we practise medicine. The showcas...

The statistics are impressive: in its 40th year, the second largest healthcare congress and exhibition in the world, and the largest in the Middle East, will be host to 4,000 exhibitors, who will attract close to 95,000 visitors. Scheduled alongside the exhibition, the Arab Health Congress programme is packed with 18 conferences that will be attended by over 11,500 delegates from 151 nationalities. Tak...

Bologna in Italy was the setting for this year’s Management in Radiology (MIR) annual gathering. A roster of distinguished speakers from Europe and the United States discussed, debated and mulled over key topics for radiology leaders and managers, including value, quality, strategy, globalisation, imaging biobanks and communication. Delegates went away encouraged to try something new in their own radiolo...

Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE) Vienna, Austria www.cirse.org www.esir.org @cirsesociety CIRSE’s Annual Meeting, Europe’s premier interventional radiology (IR) congress, attracted over 6,400 delegates from 78 countries this year. The scientific programme again focused on six core themes, but sessions ran parallel for the first time, making it easier for del...

The European Association of Hospital Managers’ 25th congress was held September 10-13 in Berlin. Moderated by Dr. Ralf Michael Schmitz, EAHM Education and Training, the ceremonial opening began with an outline of this year’s theme ‘Health Sector: Our role and responsibility’. Achieving a balance between the ethical responsibilities of healthcare and the economic factors in evidence represents a dail...

Compass

Key Points • The UAE is one of the most developed healthcare markets in the GCC • Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) is the world’s largest healthcare free zone • Education and research are an integral element of DHCC’s operations • Continued investment will ensure phase 2, which includes wellness-focused projects • DHCC was awarded CPQ standards accreditation by the ISQua in January 2014 T...

Zoom On - In the Next Issue

Prof. David Koff – Editorial Board Member Imaging David Koff, MD, FRPC, is Radiologist-in- Chief, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Hamilton Health Sciences, Ontario, Canada; Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Radiology, McMaster University; Founder and Director, Medical Imaging Informatics Research Centre, McMaster University; Co-founder of RealTime Medical. We put our seven questions to him...


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