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In Tight Times, Target Efficiency
Patient traffic is not likely to decrease, but reimbursement rates from
Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers will definitely decrease in the
coming months and years, as various provisions of the Affordable Care
Act take effect. Healthcare facilities, already operating on extremely
narrow margins, will have to tighten up even further if they are to
survive this fiscal assault. By some estimates, the typical facility will have to reduce operating costs by 15% to 20%
just to tread water. Facility managers and engineers can make
significant contributions to the belt-tightening effort when planning
renovations, expansions, and new construction, and by tweaking existing
systems. The trick is to accomplish this in ways that do not have
adverse effects on patient care. It's not easy, but it can be done. |
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Can you do a patient monitor PM in five minutes? Introducing
comprehensive patient monitor quality and safety testing in minutes.
ProSim 8 Vital Signs Simulator.• Significant reduction in patient monitor test time • 10 seconds to eight synchronous patient simulations Visit http://www.flukebiomedical. |
StatX condensed aerosol fire suppression offers significant fire "knockdown"
and rapid suppression capabilities for enclosed spaces. Environmentally
friendly — no ozone depletion potential and no global warming
potential. |
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Commissioning Electrical Systems
Commissioning is a concept born — and still practiced — in the
shipbuilding industry, but has come to be applied in architecture,
engineering, and construction. However, as the author of this extensive review in Consulting-Specifying Engineer
points out, electrical systems are often left out of the process.
Focusing on healthcare facilities, the article points out how much more
critically important the process is for this category of building and
provides a comprehensive guide on the commissioning process, including
team formation and leadership. |
Shining the Light on Hospital Wastewater
A trial of a wastewater treatment system for hospitals
is delivering a one-two punch in the form of hydrogen peroxide and
energetic UV radiation. The ionizing UV breaks down the peroxide,
producing highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (OH-) that in
turn break down pharmaceutical and biological residues in the
wastewater. The goal is to reduce the amount of bio-active agents
discharged into waterways. |
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Taking 3D to Heart
3D echocardiography (3DE) has been in use for a few years, but a sort of
milestone has been reached with the joint development by European
Association for Echocardiography and the American Society of
Echocardiography of a set of recommendations for the acquisition, analysis, and display of 3DE images.
The publication of the guidelines is in recognition of the superior
abilities of 3DE for certain types of cardiac visualizations. |
Adding a Dimension to Valve Implantation
A new CT-based visualization system from Philips Healthcare is designed
to help interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons navigate
through a patient's body in order to place a heart valve implant through a catheter.
The system helps guide the procedure, transcatheter aortic valve
implantation (TAVI), by creating a three-dimensional image from a series
of previously acquired two-dimensional CT scans. The stored images are
overlaid with a live image, providing precise location information. The
HeartNavigator recently received FDA clearance. |
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The Video Microscopy unit is available in our side stream housing and has all the regular benefits including self-cleaning. The software has been designed to be user friendly and customer configurable, giving you a powerful imaging tool that is easy to use. |
NX Tooling applications extend design productivity and efficiency into manufacturing. Solutions dynamically link to product models for accurate and timely production tooling, molds, dies, and workholding jigs and fixtures. |
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Telemedicine No Longer an Option?
The advantages of telemedicine are well known, and one of the most
important is the increased access to care that the technology brings.
But this is not the only factor driving rapid adoption throughout the
U.S. healthcare system. Like it or not, cost pressures and competition
are also major influences. This piece in Hospitals & Health Networks
reports on how the CIOs of several major organizations around the
country are implementing or expanding telemedicine capabilities and the
benefits accruing to the institutions. |
Clearing Up the Cloud
Although the term is thrown around on a regular basis, if you ask people
what "cloud computing" is you're likely to get as many shades of
answers as the number of people you ask. But did you know that NIST (the
National Institute of Standards and Technology) has developed a
"standard" definition? A piece in medcitynews.com
explains why this definition is important for IT practitioners in the
healthcare space and how to put it to use in dealing with vendors and
users. |
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Triple Play
It's easy to associate hygiene/infection control and patient safety, as
the means to assure both are often related. But there is more to patient
safety than infection control and there is more to the patient
experience than safety. An article in Healthcare Building Ideas ties together the broader view of patient safety, infection control, and patient privacy. The piece covers the important design considerations and their effects on all three factors. |
Killer Keyboard
Using ultraviolet light of the proper wavelength to disinfect is a
well-known and effective technique. Start-up company Vioguard has come
up with a novel application of the approach to produce the first
self-sanitizing computer keyboard. The keyboard connects via standard
USB and also contains a track pad, eliminating the need for a mouse.
Although the product is not yet available in large quantities in the
U.S., it has received FDA approval for its use in healthcare facilities, clearing the way for wider distribution. |
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Femap
is an advanced engineering simulation software program that creates
finite element analysis models of complex engineering products and
systems, and displays solution results. Femap can virtually model components, assemblies, or systems and determine the behavioral response for a given operating environment. |
No more waiting around, just the ability to instantly connect, collaborate, and share with one or many — nationwide, to and from other countries, and even off-network — with Sprint's Nextel Direct Connect® portfolio of push-to-talk services. |
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2012 PDC Summit Around the Corner
March is not a bad time to be in central Arizona, and for health facility engineers the place to be is the 2012 International Summit & Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design & Construction,
or "PDC" for short. The dates are March 4-7, and the venue is the
Phoenix Convention Center. Workshops cover such topics as "The Next
Generation of Infection Control During Construction," "Ergonomics and
Health Care Technology," and other topics of interest to the healthcare
engineering community. | |||||
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Snore and Bear It
Severe snoring is a problem not only for the snorer's sleep partner, but
it can also be a precursor to more serious sleep apnea. Robotics
developers in Japan have come up with a cuddly bear-shaped robotic pillow that senses the sound of snoring and gently — or not so gently, depending on settings — gets the snoring sleeper to adjust his or her sleeping position to stop the snoring. |
About This Month's Topic
Is the Cloud Clear Enough for You?Does cloud computing have a role in healthcare? If so, what would that be, and if not, why not?  |
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January 13, 2012 - Volume 4 Issue 1
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