Grand Rounds

I will be hosting the next Grand Rounds (number 41). Please send your submissions to tim@medicalconnectivity.com by 5pm Monday the Fourth of July. Thanks!

User Errors and Medical Devices

Tom Quinn has lead a recent discussion on the Biomed Listserv about the FDA and medical device safety. In his reading of the FDA's CDRH Annual Report for 2004,
the FDA attributes user error as the key factor in most complaints and
adverse events. (Tom, I hope I haven't put words in your mouth. Correct
me if I'm […]

Delphi Medical Systems Acquires Caretools

Dephi Medical Systems seems to be making all the right moves, as they take their licensing deal with Caretools up a notch to outright acquisition.
“Delphi Medical's new software package will make Delphi Medical Systems
the only provider of easy-to-use handheld devices that can monitor and
provide 2-way communication with a variety of medical devices,” said
Christophe Sevrain, […]

Hospital Uses Software to Turn Networked PCs Into Virtual Paging System

Jane Phillips Medical Center (JPMC) is using AT&T Natural Voices from Wizzard Software
to announce codes and other overhead pages. JPMC was experiencing
inadequate paging coverage because some areas of the hospital cannot
hear overhead pages. They even experienced a total paging system
failure. Their solution was to annunciate pages through PCs connected
to the hospital's network.
To solve these problems, […]

Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Implements Galvanon's MediKiosk

Making the transition from a kiosk vendor to a “patient experience company,” Galvanon has announced the implementation of their kiosks by Newark Beth Israel. Patients use the kiosks to identify patients during the check-in process, gather necessary forms
and signatures and collect co-payments and outstanding balances.
As a result of this self-service approach, Newark Beth Israel Medical
Center […]

SNOMED and HL7 Ink Deal to Harmonize Clinical and Messaging Standards

SNOMED International, the publisher of SNOMED CT Clinical Terminology, agreed to work with Health Level Seven
to give the HL7 Reference Information Model a standardized health care
terminology. The result of this effort will facilitate information
systems interoperability.
The Reference Information Model (RIM)
is a large pictorial representation of the clinical data (domains) that
identifies the life cycle of events that […]

Analogic Receives 510k Approval for LIFEGARD II Non-Invasive Patient Monitors

Analogic is moving to market
(press release) with 5 new patient monitors targeting the hospital or
in non-acute environments such as a freestanding clinic or physician’s
office.

LIFEGARD II is the platform upon which the Company will expand its
patient monitoring offerings. The first release consists of five
models. The basic units measure five parameters, while other models
also monitor […]

Grand Rounds 1:40 Is Up

Read the best of the medical blogosphere at Grand Rounds, hosted by the Health Business Blog.
I will be hosting Grand Rounds next week. Send your submissions to tim
at medicalconnectivity dot com by 5pm Pacific Time next Monday July the
Fourth. And come next week back for the next installment of Grand
Rounds!

New 802.11n Chip Delivers 240 mbs Performance

Ever wonder what comes next after 802.11a/b/g?
While ultra wide band gets a lot of virtual ink, engineers have been continuing the
evolution of the 802.11n standard. MetaLink, a wireless broadband chip maker announced
today the release of the new MtW
8170 baseband chip. Paired with the already released MtW
8150 RFIC,
this chipset is the first MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output)
product available. […]

HIMSS Provides HIT Legislation Tracking Tool

In the stampeed to “do the most for health care”, there are now 7
pieces of HIT legislation pending in Congress. To help track the ebb
and flow of legislation in this area, HIMSS has created a “legislative cross-walk” tool (Word document) that compares and contrasts the varous pieces of legislation. This type of
evaluation and tracking system […]