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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Open Source: ‘Rescue Community Nurses from IT Exile’
In the second of our new ‘Open Source’ columns Mark Reynolds, managing director of TopCall UK argues for community nurses to be urgently provided with modern IT tools to end their ‘communications exile’. According to research by Intel, Hewlett Packard and Sendmail, the mobile nursing community is one of the most ostracised of all British […]
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National Programme Names LSP and NASP Candidates
The National Programme for IT in the NHS has announced a “longlist” of 31 individual firms and consortia who have won through the first stage of tendering to be Local Service Providers (LSPs) and National Application Service Providers (NASPs) for the programme. The announcement said that 27 candidates had qualified for further consideration for the […]
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HC 2003 – Pick of the Product and Service News
Healthcare Computing is a traditional launch pad for healthcare IT products and services and the industry did not disappoint this year. We list below a selection of the new launches, versions and deals announced at Harrogate last week. Click here for a full list of exhibitors. Telemedicine Solutions from Tandberg Tandberg demonstrated its videoconferencing solution, […]
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Multilex Announces Enhanced Sensitivity Checking
First DataBank Europe , the provider of point-of-care databases has launched Enhanced Sensitivity Checking as a new feature of its Multilex Drug Data File Multilex DDF). The new feature offers a more sophisticated way to highlight potential drug – patient sensitivity safety issues to clinicians, a key requirement in reducing medication errors. Previously, within electronic […]
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Northern Ireland Issues Integrated ICT Strategy
The Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety has issued a consultation document on developing integrated IT systems that sets out how it plans to use information and communications technology (ICT) to provide joined-up health and social care. The proposals are aimed at introducing fully ICT-enabled health and social care. Key elements […]
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BMA IT Lead Sceptical of NHS Strategy
With the blue touch paper for a big new push on NHS IT apparently about to be lit, E-Health Insider spoke to Dr Grant Kelly, a general practitioner and head of the BMA’s IT committee, about how he views the new draft IT strategy. The British Medical Association’s IT lead questions whether the new NHS […]
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Leapfrog Group Extends Reach
The Leapfrog Group, an alliance of US healthcare organisations dedicated to reducing avoidable medical mistakes through introducing technology and best practice standards, has announced that 12 new regions of the US are to adopt the group’s patient safety standards. According to research by the US Institute of Health tens of thousands of Americans die and […]
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US Alliance to Promote Electronic Medical Records
Leading US doctor, hospital and consumer groups have formed the Patient Safety Institute (PSI), a major new collaborative initiative designed to harness and integrate secure IT systems to improve patient safety and healthcare quality, The aim is to develop a confidential computer network, based on open standards, to electronically link medical records so doctors can […]
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Wanless on Information Technology
The UK health service has a poor record on the use of information and communication technology and spending in this area will need to grow at a faster rate over the next 20 years to catch up and keep up with other countries, according to the Wanless Report on NHS funding. Most of the headlines […]
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