Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School www.umassmed.edu are studying how to remotely and noninvasively monitor patients with serious cardiac disease to keep them healthier and prevent emergency room visits and hospitalizations. …Continue reading
Reducing Noise Levels in Hospitals
Hospitals are busy noisy places with alarms clanging, pagers blaring overhead, doors opening and closing, TVs droning on, and people talking in loud voices. Under ACA, patient satisfaction has become even more important as low patient satisfaction or “Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores can directly impact the financial operations of a healthcare organization as well as its reputation in the community. …Continue reading
WPI Creates a Virtual Human
A team of electrical and computer engineers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) www.wpi.edu have created a virtual human by digitizing and combining high-resolution images of thin slices of an actual human body. WPI researchers have teamed up with faculty at Harvard Medical School http://hms.harvard.edu to work on the project. …Continue reading
Bill Introduced to Help Rural Vets
Senators Tom Udall D-NM) www.tomudall.senate.gov and Jerry Moran (R KS) www.moran.senate.gov have introduced the “Rural Veterans Improvement Act” (S-2265) to address the barriers that veterans can face when trying to access quality healthcare in rural communities. Today, more than 6 million veterans including a third of all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans live in rural areas. …Continue reading
NSF’s Big News in Data Science
The National Science Foundation (NSF) www.nsf.gov announced that four awards totaling more than $5 million will be used to establish four regional hubs for data science innovation. These hubs will be referred to as “Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs” or BD Hubs https://bdhub.info. …Continue reading
Innovative Methods for Clinical Trials
FDA is soliciting input from a broad group of stakeholders on the use of technologies and other innovative methods to conduct clinical trials. FDA faces challenges in recruiting and retaining sufficient numbers of trial participants to conduct a trial in a reasonable amount of time. This can contribute to the cost and complexity when conducting trials. …Continue reading
Medical Devices for Children
The lack of medical devices and technology designed for children is one of the biggest challenges in pediatric medicine. Today, many of the medical devices used on children were originally designed for adults. …Continue reading