+++ 6:00 pm | HealthTech Wire finishes the first ever parallel live news coverage from two European health-IT events +++
The team of HealthTech Wire says goodbye and would like to thank Healthcare Computing 2011 and all of its organisers and attendees for their great cooperation. Parallel to the English team in Birmingham, German colleagues reported from conhIT 2011 in Berlin. You can find the German live ticker under www.healthtechwire.de/conhit. English language reports from conhIT are:
- Healthcare-IT: A European endeavour
- conhIT: Netherlands to evaluate virtual diabetes physician
- Healthcare IT: Patient safety needs better evaluation
It was the very first time that a news portal broadly reported from two European health-IT congresses at the same time. HealthTech Wire is the industry's news service!
+++ 4:44 pm | HC2011 closes with debate on opening up data +++
HC2011 closed with a debate on how to deal with the tension between opening up data and delivering effective services. Tim Straughan, CEO of the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, said it would only happen if the data is made available in a format that is accessible. It needs a "single source of truth" and for the data to be available for every one to use. He acknowledged that they had been very conservative in the past about making the data available. The big challenge is to provide the right information governance framework.
+++ 4:34 pm | Drag and drop interface for PAS/EPR +++
System C showcased the latest version of its PAS/EPR system, Medway Sigma, developed in partnership with University Hospital Aintree, in Liverpool. All core IT systems at the Trust are based on the system. It is built on Microsoft .Net technology and combines PAS, clinical, business intelligence and departmental systems. Using 'widgets' a healthcare professional can drag and drop components of a patient's record to build their own view of the patient.
+++ 3:40 pm | How to make data free at the point of need +++
Mike Roberts, Director of IT at The London Clinic, was interviewed by BridgeHead's Tony Tomkys on “how to make data free at the point of need” in one of today's afternoon sessions. The discussion explored the complexities of storing and managing different types of patient and administrative data across various healthcare IT systems, while also making it available at the right time, to the right people. Mr Roberts examined some of the typical issues provider organisations face when attempting to store and manage data in a way that will enable them to make critical information available to clinicians at all times.
+++ 2:54 pm | Sale and lease back is a practical way to acquire IT systems +++
Sale and lease back is an easy way for NHS trusts to refresh IT equipment every three years, says Peter Hanson of IT infrastructure solutions supplier CSA Waverley. If an acute trust has old equipment it normally has to find capital. With sale and lease back, however, the IT estate is bought off the trust, freeing the cash tied up in the assets. The trust pays a manageable expense each month or quarter, and a big advantage is that the operating lease is off the balance sheet.
+++ 2:14 pm | Vocera introduces Vocera Alert to UK +++
Vocera Alert replaces pagers and bleeps with smartphone technology – Blackberry, iPhone and (soon) Androids. It is more secure and auditable than current paging technology with delivered, opened and responded receipts. Vocera Alert runs on wireless and cellular networks. The company says it is currently offering a special introductory deal for early deployments in the UK to act as reference sites.
+++ 12:27 pm | Sophia's intelligent search unlocks hidden information +++
Sophia is a revolutionary search tool that uses semiotics and intertextuality to organise, discover and deliver information in new and better ways. Provided by The Thinking People Group, it greatly enhances an organisations ability to find information in unstructured text and unearth new information relationships and knowledge. In healthcare, for example, a user could input a combination of drugs a patient is taking and the ailments experienced to determine if there is an adverse event associated with the medications.
+++ 12:09 pm | Mobile system for patient discharge on a SL8 +++
Cloud2 demonstrated a patient discharge system built on the SharePoint platform. Already in use (on normal PCs) in Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre Hospitals, the system can now be used on the recently launched Zoostorm SL8. The system uses 'smart forms' that make it easier to provide the necessary information and verify all the stages needed for discharge, including links to pharmacy and automatically providing a summary for the patient's GP. The photo shows an example of a discharge summary on the SL8.
+++ 11:50 am | Person-centred services need person-centred information services +++
In a conference session on open government, Penny Hill, Principle Programme Manager of the National Strategic Information Programme for Social Care, spoke about supporting personal health through citizen-centred services. The Government's policy for an "information revolution" in healthcare doesn't distinguish the types of information that person-centred services will need. Person centred information services would then enable citizens to support their own care. At the moment there is no such thing as "a patient record" — there is a multiplicity of records with barriers between them. Social networking concepts applied to the personal record would enable people to link services and applications relevant to their care. However, assurance and safety are key features that should be built into such systems.
+++ 11:30 am | IBM demonstrates Watson +++
Launched earlier this year, Watson is designed to rival the human ability to answer questions posed in natural language. In healthcare Watson can interpret text based information, such as a doctor's notes on a patient. For example, it could discover whether a patient is a smoker and would like to give up smoking. Another use could be to provide sophisticated analyses of multiple records to give dashboards of health trends.
+++ 9:31 am | Amazon kindle as document distribution system for NHS boards +++
Cloud2 demonstrated how the Amazon Kindle could be used as a document distribution system for bodies such as NHS Trust Boards, where documents have to be sent to many people to study and take to meetings. Simon Hudson of Cloud2 downloaded a board document from a hospital trust website and showed how it could be sent to a Kindle in seconds. Photo shows the document on the Kindle.
+++ 9:23 am | HC2011 looks at open source for the NHS +++
A day-long session chaired by Professor John Chelsom of City University, London is looking at an open development approach to software and standards. It is starting with Kit Lewis of Space around People looking at how an open development process for software and standards would work in the NHS. The view from the Department of Health Informatics Directorate is being presented by Paul Jones, its Chief Technical Officer.
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Source: HealthTech Wire
