A young pregnant woman was referred to the Ruppiner Kliniken by her GP because she was found to be suffering from cardiac irregularities. Following an electrophysiological examination it was clear that the woman needed rhythm control throughout the pregnancy. In such cases telemetric ECG monitoring is the ideal way to...
St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Mississippi used Technology Optimization to improve their utilization of GEÆs CT LightSpeed16 and expand clinical services, and the analysis uncovered key opportunities. It helped in realizing the potential to expand procedures (CT Urography, Coronary CT Angiography, CT Colonography), improve throughput and add exam slots and...
A closer look at the Indiana Heart Hospital reveals that there are no paper, no files, no films, and not even a medical records file storage areas. That is because Indiana Heart Hospital epitomizes the new vision of healthcare as the most advanced specialty hospital and the most comprehensive all...
Telemetric ECG monitoring in the Cardiology Clinic at the Dresden Heart and Circulatory Centre II Medical Clinic of the Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital at Dresden Technical University. At the Dresden Heart and Circulatory Centre, which was built in 1997 and is equipped to provide cardiological and heart surgery care...
Recent advances in ultrasound imaging that improve tissue contrast including harmonic imaging and speckle reduction imaging have the potential to improve the diagnosis of diffuse processes - especially pyelonephritis which is usually multifocal rather than completely diffuse in nature. This paper presents a case that illustrates the usefulness of a...
In addition to providing obvious benefits for the patient, reducing surgical site infections offers a number of advantages for the hospital as well in conserving valuable resources - money, supplies, time, and labor - that can be applied in other care areas. Without the added length of stay, the hospital...
Over the past five years, many hospitals have diligently worked on improving their revenue cycles. While some have seen a tremendous financial impact, others either were unable to sustain the results or did not realize the anticipated financial benefits. Organizations that were able to maintain significant improvements in their level...
Healthcare organizations that are unable to achieve the full benefits of new technology may not obtain the best or quickest return on their investment. While installing the right equipment can potentially improve the quality of care and patient experience your organization provides, only effective and complete use of that equipment...
A variety of issues is contributing to current global challenges in healthcare delivery. In the United States, a confluence of factors has focused the spotlight on the need for systemic change. Yet, while some contributing factors may be uncontrollable, - at least at the facility level - there are healthcare...
Volume Contrast Imaging (VCI-C) a new approach to improved tissue contrast resolution in real-time, coronal plane imaging. Displayed as a 2D slice, the VCI-C technique is based on 4D volumetric data acquisition. In a number of applications such as obstetrics, gynecology, urology, breast, small parts, endocavitary as well as abdominal...
Paget-Schroetter syndrome is an acute subclavian vein thrombosis that usually develops secondary to heavy arm exertion. This case study illustrates a venous anomaly identified in a 26-year-old male with an acutely swollen left arm. The study was negative for DVT but positive for subclavian vein stenosis and abnormal flow which...
Six-Sigma seems to be an approach that is well-suited to addressing the disparities and helping to create a 'good health care system' since it is designed to reduce the variation and defects within any given process - including the many processes surrounding patient care. Before exploring the various ways in...
Since Roentgen's discovery of the X-ray in 1895, the field of diagnostic imaging has undergone dramatic changes. Today's technologies clearly provide greater speed and superior image quality. For optimal performance, technology must not only be leading edge, it must also be aligned with the people and process steps involved. Such...
This whitepaper introduces Tissue Synchronization Imaging TSI, which is a parametric imaging tool based on Tissue Velocity Imaging that provides clinicians with additional image enhancement for assessing delayed cardiac wall motion. The TSI parametric image analyzes the tissue velocity signals within the image to determine the peak velocities within a...
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that over the past decade trips to emergency departments ED rose 20 percent, while the number of available emergency centers fell by 15 percent. These and other similar statistics are frighteningly familiar to many hospitals and patients. However,...
The article presents a brief comparison between the Six Sigma DMAIC process and FOCUS-PDCA. The DMAIC process includes phases for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. FOCUS-PDCA is an extension of the Plan, Do, Check, Act PDCA cycle, sometimes called the Deming or Shewhart cycle, and is considered the most...
The cost of providing high quality services within the healthcare organization has increased significantly over the past one or two decades, primarily due to decreased payments and the increased cost of doing business. This has led many organizations to seek outside help in order to find and develop additional methods...
Launching a new diagnostic imaging center involves very specific requirements and roadmaps, including five major areas of change that have a direct impact on planning. First, planning must focus on the strategic level of any organization, whether it is a multi-national corporation or a six-person radiology group. Think of all...
Spatio-Temporal Image Correlation STIC is a new approach for clinical assessment of the fetal heart. This feature offers an easy to use technique to acquire data from the fetal heart and its visualization in a 4D cine sequence. The acquisition is performed in two steps: First, data is acquired by...
Change may be the only thing that remains the same but successfully implementing and sustaining it has become more challenging for today’s organizations—unless they have well-developed strategies. Whether the change consists of a massive reorganization, a merger with another enterprise or installing a new computer network, communication is one important...
