HealthManagement, Volume 8 - Issue 4, 2008
CARS News - President andOrganiserWelcomeOver 1,000
Delegates at Recent CARS 2008 Congress
Held over three days from June 25 until 28, 2008, this year’s congress proved the ongoing demand for its special focus on computer-assissted medicine.
CARS 2008 in Barcelona was launched,giving special emphasis to the clinical impact of a computer assisted medicine. More than 1,000 participants from 49 countries created an infectious spirit of international and interdisciplinary collaboration. The department of health of Catalonia, Spain, the societies ISCAS, EuroPACS,CAD,CAR and CMI as well as exhibitors and sponsors of CARS, specifically TicSalut and Indra, enabled the participants to feel that they were an integral part of a pioneering community, jointly working towards better healthcare for all.
The CARS 2008 President, Prof. Javier Herrero Jover, and organiser Prof. Heinz U. Lemke,wish to thank all participants and in particular also the speakers and poster presenters as well as session chairs for their valuable contributions. Their combined effort makes CARS a special type of congress aiming at achieving excellence in computer assisted medicine as its main core value.
Further information is available at www.cars-int.org.
MIR Congress
Dear colleagues,
I write to urge you to attend the MIR (Management in Radiology) annual conference to be held inVouliagmeni, Athens,Greece fromWednesday 29th until Friday 31st October 2008.The local Chairmen are the Greek radiologists, Prof.Nikolaos Batakis,Dr Athanasios Chalazonitis and Dr. FotiosTakis.
Last year the congress in Oxford was very well attended and a great success.We are building on this format and this year will see the introduction and discussion of several new and stimulating topics including the management of private practice in imaging and integrating into a public health system, the financial and human resources management in imaging, the management of change in imaging, the management issues in ultrasound,managing CD/DVD referrals,managing data security, clinical audit and data security, the management of imaging education and many associated ethical issues. All these issues are worthy of detailed debate, and we hope to air them fully at the congress.
There will also be an interesting social aspect to the programme, with a gala dinner, and plenty of opportunity to organise sight-seeing in Athens and its surrounding islands during the weekend after the congress, as an added incentive to come to the attractive congress venue at the attractive port area of Vougliameni, just outside Athens.
I very much hope that as many of you as possible will come to the MIR Annual Congress taking place in Athens this year from 29 – 31 October 2008, so make sure you are a part of it.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Dr Nicola H Strickland
BM BCh,MA Hons (Oxon), FRCP, FRCR
MIR Chairman
CIRSE News - Programme Highlights – CIRSE 2008
The forthcoming CIRSE congress, to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, September 13 – 17 2008, includes a very comprehensive programme aimed at enhancing clinical as well as technical knowledge. Following the outstanding success of CIRSE 2007, the congress will maintain the same format, enabling delegates specialising in a certain subject to follow one of the main themes throughout the conference without overlap.
The main disciplines will be:
•Vascular Intervention
• Transcatheter Embolisation
• Non-Vascular Intervention
• Interventional Oncology
• Clinical Practice Development
• Imaging in Interventional Radiology
The basic educational sessions for junior interventionalists will include eight foundation courses, focusing on the essentials of defined procedures and conditions.There will be foundation courses on interventional oncology as well as on peripheral vascular disease.
Participants will again have the opportunity to test their knowledge by means of a self-assessment test,which was introduced at CIRSE 2007 and will be further expanded for CIRSE 2008.
A major focus is patient care and clinical practice development as well as marketing in IR.A workshop will provide tips for starting clinical practice in your own hospital. In addition a special exhibition will focus on patient awareness.
In order to facilitate personal itinerary planning for CIRSE 2008, they have defined concrete learning objectives,which will show you what exactly to expect from each session.Another novelty is that conflict of interest declarations will be available at the beginning of each session.
ECRI EnhancesWeb-Based Alert and Recall System
ECRI Institute has enhanced itsAlertsTracker™ web-based alert and recall management system with broader coverage of healthcare products and new alert filters.
Alerts Tracker improves a hospital’s ability to respond to safety alerts by automating distribution of each alert to appropriate facility staff. Recent enhancements broaden the system’s coverage of medical devices to now include blood, food and drug alerts. ECRI Institute’s database of alerts includes results from ECRI Institute investigations; medical device, drug, and recall information culled from the FDA, manufacturer information and other sources.
In addition, a geographic filter is included in the system to allow hospitals to limit distribution of alerts to those of potentially affected products distributed in their country.Users benefit from coverage of international alert information sources while saving time and attention by screening out the large number of alerts that are specific to other countries.
IHE Present Interoperability Showcase atWorld of Health IT 2008
A central feature at theWorld of Health IT 2008 conference and exhibition to be held in Copenhagen on 4 – 6 November, 2008 is the “interoperability showcase,” a technical demonstration that provides a real-time experience of the next-generation of healthcare, where a patient’s records follow him or her through the care cycle.
The interoperability showcase features cuttingedge technology and standards that create an interactive environment where attendees can experience interoperability of healthcare IT systems. Attendees will be able to create their own electronic health record and access it across multiple healthcare settings within the showcase. Clinical scenarios that demonstrate a connected healthcare system will be on display.
The showcase also features initiatives, collaborations and focused tours forVIPs and national delegations.
Focus areas for 2008 include demonstrations of healthcare IT support for infrastructure, electronic health records, personal health records, cardiology, radiology, laboratory,healthcare information systems, and patient care devices, technical demonstrations will feature the IHE framework enabling standards-based health information exchange within and across local, regional, and national networks.
The clinical scenarios will focus on clinician and patient access with information sharing across the continuum of care.
Forthcoming IHE Events.
IHE workshops, education, events, demonstrations of interoperability and exhibitions are activities of the IHE - Europe national initiatives held as part of larger IT events,or as stand-alone activities. The following will be taking place in 2008:
Journées Françaises de Radiologie in France October 24 – 28, Paris, Francehttp://www.sfrnet.org
World of Health IT November 4 – 6,Copenhagen, Denmarkhttp://www.worldofhealthit.org
5thAnnual IHE Netherlands Congress November 7,The Netherlandshttp://www.ihe-nl.org
