Even before the federal government began pushing for universal adoption of electronic health records and the establishment of a nationwide health information network, most hospitals saw the need for systems integration. Being able to access critical patient data at the point of care, at the nurse's station or from remote sites became the rallying cry of doctors and nurses.

The climate of today's technology landscape within the healthcare arena seems to be changing at an ever-increasing rate. That can be either good news or great news depending on where you are in the need-to-purchase pipeline. Fortunately, for those needing to purchase inventory management systems, the climate will be like taking a trip to the Bahamas, metaphorically speaking.

Today’s busy emergency departments have an arsenal of imaging tools at their disposal when triaging and diagnosing trauma patients. Increasingly, ED physicians are turning to more sophisticated technologies in addition to proven standbys — such as ultrasound, CR and DR — when diagnosing victims.


The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. is alarming, claiming nearly a third of the nation's adult population, according to the CDC.1 And the negative physical and emotional consequences are sobering: Diabetes, joint degeneration, hypertension, cardiac disease and sleep apnea are among the many serious co-morbidities associated with this disease. Because obesity contributes to significant reduction in health status and eventually death, healthcare professionals frequently encounter extremely sick hospitalized patients suffering from serious obesity-related co-morbidities.

Feb. 23, 2007 — West Virginia holds the dubious rank of the state with the highest percentage of residents with heart disease (10.4 percent), according to a study released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The lowest ranking state on the survey is Colorado.

Variations in lifestyle risk factors for heart disease vary state to state, the report suggested, which may account for the geographic disparities in the number of heart attacks and the incidence of heart disease.

Feb. 23, 2007 — Dr. William T Abraham of Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio and Dr. Patrick M McCarthy of Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, have agreed to become the Co-Principal Investigators for C-Pulse Feasibility Trial in the U.S. Australia-based Sunshine Heart, a global medical device company, says it is committed to the commercialization of the C-Pulse, an implantable, non-blood contacting, mechanical heart assist device for the treatment of people with heart failure.

Feb. 23, 2007 — The first patient implant was performed this week in a feasibility study evaluating the use Medtronic’s Melody Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve and Ensemble Transcatheter Delivery System to treat patients requiring congenital pulmonary heart valve replacement.

The prospective, non-randomized, feasibility clinical trial will enroll 30 patients at three U.S. medical centers including:

• Children's Hospital Boston (Boston, MA) with investigators James Lock, M.D. Cardiologist-in-Chief and Emile Bacha, M.D. Senior Associate in Cardiac Surgery

Feb. 23, 2007 — Heart device maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. received a warning this week from the FDA about the quality-systems handling at its California facility, the Wall Street Journal reported. In the warning FDA told Edwards the company will not be receiving FDA premarket approval for devices "reasonably related to those issues."

According to Edwards CEO Michael A. Mussallem, the company is fully committed to quickly resolving the issues and does not anticipate the matter to have a material impact on its 2007 financial strength and direction.

Feb. 23, 2007 — Cordis Corp. introduced the REGATTA Steerable Guidewire family of devices in the U.S. this week, which 12 selections of the REGATTA Steerable Guidewire and two choices of the REGATTA SB Steerable Guidewire. In April, the company plans to add the REGATTA HS Steerable Guidewire in two selections.

Feb. 23, 2007 — Philips has announced availability of its new HeartStart MRx monitor/defibrillator with capability to network with the Philips IntelliVue Clinical Network. The design enables the device to serve as a wireless transport monitor/defibrillator or cardiac bedside monitor/defibrillator with built-in pacing, synchronized cardioversion and defibrillation capabilities.

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