Pratical Patient Care March 2010

Cover Story

US Healthcare in a Critical Condition By Ben Sawyer Many US hospital executives believe the country's healthcare system is in a state of crisis. Barack Obama's proposed reforms could affect costs and quality of care. Despite this, most hospitals... > read more

The Paperless Trail to Health IT By David Collins It is a commonly held belief that health IT systems offer little reward for their high price. However, many organisations are reaping huge benefits from implementing digital record-keeping...

The Big Screen: Concerns over MRSA Testing By Dr Michael Millar MRSA screening for elective patients has been compulsory in England since April 2009. It will be extended to emergency patients by 2011. While health officials continue to shout about the...

Virtually Reality for Electronic Patient Records Concerns over privacy, cost and technological complexity have dogged electronic patient records systems. This is despite the fact they could transform the way care is provided; however,...

Tracking Change with RFID By Dr John Zaleski As workloads continue to increase and cost pressures persist, organisations are investigating RFID technology. It has the potential to improve patient care and safety through the...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Reprocessing Medical Devices By Ashwin Moduga Reprocessing medical devices and reusing single-use items is expected to change the face of the medical device industry. Business analyst Ashwin Moduga...

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Hamworthy - Water droplets in a flow loop

Practical Patient Care March 2012

Connected health is fuelling a new model of healthcare delivery, moving care from the hospital or doctor’s surgery into patients’ homes. By leveraging information technology, connected...

Practical Patient Care September 2011

Lord Ara Darzi and Professor Quang-Zhong Yang look at the difference in healthcare provision between the developed and developing world and the newly established Institute of Global...

Practical Patient Care March 2010

The need for caregivers to respect a person's wishes is essential. Dr Dimitrina Petrova of The Equal Rights Trust warns that policymakers will struggle to balance the matter of treating...

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Accidental Administration: ICU Medication Mistakes
By Dr Andreas Valentin Mistakes made by staff while administering drugs occur far more than they should. Dr Andreas Valentin, leader of a recent study into medication errors, talks to Nic Paton about how far stress...

Action Stations: Firefighting Technology
By Robert Soloman Modern firefighting technology means the risk of fire is not as great as it once was, but it is still a danger. Robert Solomon of the National Fire Protection Agency in the US tells Nic Paton...

An Unwanted Admission: Healthcare-Associated Infections
By Claire Kilpatrick Healthcare-associated infection is a major global problem being tackled by the World Health Organisation. Claire Kilpatrick explains how part of the "First Global Patient Safety Challenge:...

Overcoming Emergency with Voice, Video and Tracking
No one can ever be completely prepared for disaster, especially in the medical arena. Some of the newest technologies designed for treatment and care are ensuring, however, that...