Flooring Product Designed to Meet the Needs of Patients and Healthcare Workers

American Biltrite, a manufacturer of commercial and residential flooring based in Toronto, Canada, has introduced a flooring product designed by the healthcare industry for the healthcare industry.

The challenge of healthcare facility design is building an efficient space that adheres to all infection-control regulations while also providing a beautiful and relaxed healing environment for patients and their families. American Biltrite developed information chains with healthcare personnel, patient services, and designers to discover their flooring needs; their responses led to the development of Dura-MED.

Dura-MED is:

• Helpful in the Healing Process: Dura-MED helps patients' entire recovery period by providing a base for a supportive healing environment. The product's rubber component absorbs noise to remove unwanted distractions; Dura-MED's pattern imitates carpet to create a familiar, comforting setting; its homogenous surface allows rehabilitating patients to safely move their feet while it also provides grip for stability; and its color palette features soothing organic tones to stimulate relaxation.
  
  
• Safe: The inherent rubber characteristics help prevent slips; however, the unique balance of material compounds permit the product to "give with impact" cushioning unpreventable falls. Dura-MED also has an intelligent balance of refined clay filler (a naturally abundant resource) that suppresses smoke and flame development, allowing more time for people to exit the building during a fire.
  
  
• Comfortable: The balanced compound forms a sensitive floor base for healthcare personnel to stand comfortably for extended periods of time as well as creates a quiet work environment by eliminating excess noise.
  
  
• Hygienic: Dura-MED is heat and pressure cured with sulfur to create a dense, even surface. This treatment allows the product to repel dirt and stains and builds an impermeable barrier to liquid contaminates, mold/mildew, and bacteria.
  
  
• Durable: Dura-MED has a high resistance to abrasions and a high tolerance to chemicals, disinfectants, oil, grease, and staining (proven by ASTM F 925).

Source: American Biltrite

Leading Health and Technology Companies Form Alliance to Improve Personal Health Through Connected Devices

Given the rise of chronic conditions and the rapid aging of the population, the methods of managing health will need to shift from traditional institutional settings to peoples' everyday environments, including the home. To enable this shift, a group of technology, healthcare, and fitness companies have formed the Continua Health Alliance, an open industry group that will establish an ecosystem of connected personal health and fitness products and services, making it possible for patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers to more proactively address ongoing healthcare needs.

Founding members of the group include BodyMedia, Cisco Systems, GE Healthcare, IBM, Intel Corporation, Kaiser Permanente, Medtronic, Motorola, Nonin, Omron Healthcare, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Partners HealthCare, Polar Electro, Royal Philips Electronics, RMD Networks, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, The Tunstall Group, Welch Allyn, and Zensys.

"First and foremost, this alliance is about helping to empower people with the information they need to better manage their health and the health of their loved ones," says David Whitlinger, chairman of the Continua Health Alliance and director of healthcare device standards in Intel's Digital Health Group. "We are creating an organization where several seemingly disparate industries can work together to combine their products and services through connectivity standards and provide millions of people with the tools they need to better manage their health and the health of their families."

The Continua Health Alliance efforts will be focused on three major categories: chronic disease management, monitoring the health and healthcare needs of aging people, and proactive health and fitness. By enabling a network of readily connected health and medical devices, people with diabetes or other chronic diseases will be able to share glucose-levels and other vital sign information with their doctors. Adult children will be able to remotely watch over their aging parents and proactively help them manage safely in their own homes. Diet- and fitness-conscious individuals will also be able to seamlessly share their weight and exercise data with fitness consultants through the Internet.

The Continua design guidelines will not create new networking standards, but will be based on proven connectivity standards. Proven connectivity standards that will be considered include BluetoothÆ, USB, Wi-Fi^TM, Z-Wave^TM and ZigBee^TM, among other established transports. The group plans to deliver the guidelines within the next 18 months.

The group also intends to establish a product certification program with a consumer recognizable logo signifying the promise of interoperability with other certified products. Products made under Continua guidelines will provide consumers with increased assurance of interoperability among devices, enabling them to more easily share information with caregivers and service providers.

Through collaborations with government agencies and others, the alliance will work to provide guidelines for the effective management of diverse products and services from a global network of vendors.

Source: Continua Health Alliance

Detecting Post-discharge Adverse Events with Telephone Follow-up

Vocantas Inc., experts in speech processing and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems for the healthcare industry, have announced the launch of CallAssure, a post-discharge patient follow-up and interviewing technology system.

CallAssure was designed with widespread collaboration with healthcare professionals and is based on extensive research by several independent research scientists. Some of the key factors in the design and clinical trials were the ability to use the data obtained during the patient follow-up interview to highlight adverse events and key quality indicators (i.e., drug interactions, adverse pain, nausea, and poor patient safety). Urgent issues are passed to healthcare professionals for immediate action, and data collected is presented in a manner easily interpreted by clinical managers to assist with continuous quality improvement. Quality assurance initiatives proven during trials using CallAssure have shown an increase in quality of patient care without increasing nursing workload.

CallAssure is a touch-tone and/or speech-recognition enabled phone interviewing system that allows healthcare providers to contact newly released patients and inquire about their status or monitor their progress. The system performs automated outbound calls to a predetermined list of patients. CallAssure uses the latest technology to make the patient's experience as natural as possible. Results from trials have impressed the researchers beyond expectation and are currently scheduled for publication.

Healthcare professionals, such as Dr. Alan Forster, a world renowned expert on patient safety, research scientist, and author of many reports on post-discharge adverse events, has identified CallAssure as an aide in early detection of post-discharge adverse events. "After many years studying the issues related to post-discharge adverse events, the healthcare community approached Vocantas as a partner to couple technology with best practices in an effort to address this serious issue. CallAssure not only addresses this issue in an efficient and cost-effective manner but enables continuous improvements to patient safety. I am thrilled to be working with Vocantas as a true partner in a very critical area," declares Forster.

Source: Vocantas, Inc.

Medtronic Receives FDA Approval for New Cardiac Systems with Distance Wireless Telemetry

Medtronic, Inc., has announced the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the Medtronic Concerto^TM/Virtuoso^TM line of implantable cardiac devices. The approval coincided with Heart Rhythm 2006, the Heart Rhythm Society's 27th Annual Scientific Sessions.

The Concerto cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D) and Virtuoso implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) are the first implantable cardiac devices available with Medtronic's proprietary Conexus^TM Wireless Telemetry, developed using the Medical Implant Communications Service (MICS, 402-405 MHz). Using the MICS band enables reliable communication between the implanted device and clinician programmers and patient home monitoring units.

Conexus Telemetry will enhance efficiencies at device implant and during in-office follow-up visits. At implant, there is no need for the programmer head to enter the sterile implant field, and in-office visits may be simplified when they're needed, as the physician can interrogate patients' devices via wireless telemetry without the need for surface electrodes. As well, Conexus Telemetry will enable automatic, wireless data transmission from the patient's device to a home monitor. Device data then will be transmitted to the clinician using the Medtronic CareLink® Network, the first Internet-based system to help physicians and patients better manage chronic cardiovascular disease treated by implantable device therapy. Communication between device and monitor will be initiated by physician-programmed device parameters or it can occur on pre-scheduled dates that are pre-programmed via the Medtronic CareLink Network. If the system detects notable changes in the patient's condition or device status, a Medtronic CareAlert^TM will be sent to the physician, providing the potential for treatment decisions before the condition worsens.

"Implantable device therapy is entering a new era with innovation focused on overall cardiac disease management and enhancing patient quality of life," says Charles Haffajee, M.D., director of cardiac electrophysiology, arrhythmia and pacing at Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston. "This system's features, in combination with wireless distance telemetry, offer more convenient, yet equally effective, device management and patient care."

Source: Medtronic, Inc.

Please send items for possible inclusion in Trends, to: Susan Carr Editor Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare susancarr@psqh.com Information for this section has been compiled from industry press releases.

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