US Medical Insurance Group to Subsidise PDA Software
A US physician liability insurance organisation, MedAmerica Mutual Risk Retention Group, is to offer its members a subsidy towards the purchase of copies of the eProcrates handheld clinical reference source for handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) in order to improve patient safety and reduce drug errors. California-based MedAmerica Mutual will subsidise the ePocrates Rx Pro application, […]
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Kwo Aims to Make London World’s Best Health System
Everyone needs a goal. David Kwo, the man responsible for delivering 21st century IT to the NHS in London, certainly has one. It’s nothing less that to make London “the leading metropolitan health system globally.” Interviewed by E-Health Insider as the selection process for the three shortlisted LSPs for London – consortia led by IBM, […]
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Better Information Needed for Sexual Health Services
Services struggling to cope with Britain’s deteriorating sexual health could be helped by a new approach to performance management underpinned by modern IT, according to a paper submitted to the Commons Health Select Committee. In June, the committee published a report that highlighted spiralling rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and long waits for appointments […]
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US Institute Publishes Core Capabilities for EHRs
In a new report the independent Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the US National Academies, has published a set of eight core functions that electronic health records (EHRs) should be able to offer. The IOM report, ‘Key Capabilities of an Electronic Health Record System’, is intended to provide a basic ‘functional model’ for an […]
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E-prescribing Arrives for Out-of-Hours GPs
A major step towards electronic prescribing for out-of-hours (OOH) doctors in England has been taken with the launch of new software supporting online prescribing by Adastra Software Ltd. Adastra, the provider of GP out-of-hours software to 80% of GP co-operatives, has incorporated e-prescribing tools into version three of its ‘OnLine Clinician’ software. Stockport and Nottingham […]
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PDAs or Tablet PCs? – The debate continues…
Last week Dr Andrew Harrison wrote about his experience of using a Tablet PC on the wards – The Tablet PC on Test . In response Steve Garrington, CEO of Torex Health, argued the case in favour of PDAs as the best mobile devices for clinicians – Open Source – Tablet PCs wrong for Doctors […]
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Safety Gains Available from IT
IT can substantially improve the safety of medical care but few of the technologies likely to achieve this are implemented, according to a major US review of the subject published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The review’s authors from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Center for Applied Medical Information Systems, Partners HealthCare System […]
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Two PCTs Choose Graphnet for Integrated Electronic Records
Halton primary care trust (PCT) and Warrington PCT are to develop an integrated XML-based repository of real-time patient records that will make integrated electronic patient records available to all local authorised healthcare staff. The solution, to be provided by Graphnet, will extract and integrate patient data from the different IT systems of individual GP surgeries […]
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NHS Urged to Adopt EAN.UCC Standard
UK-based campaigning group, e.centre, has welcomed a ruling by the US Food and Drug Administration mandating the use of a uniform system for barcoding pharmaceuticals. The pressure is now on for the NHS to follow suit. E.centre is a not-for-profit organisation which acts as the UK authority for the EAN.UCC (European Article Numbering and Uniform […]
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Cedars-Sinai Suspends Use of New Clinical IT System
Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, the largest private hospital in the Western US, has suspended use of a prestige multimillion-dollar computerised system for doctors’ orders, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Doctors at the hospital are reported to have complained that it was endangering patient safety and required too much work. […]
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