Healthcare IT News - July 2008 - (Page 14)

14 Healthcare IT News July 2008 ■ hoSpItalS & IdNs www.HealthcareITNews.com N.J., Pa. hospitals connect to improve ICU care By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor IRVING, TX - Sixteen hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania are connecting electronically to focus on improving care for patients in intensive care units. The hospitals have joined a Rapid Adoption Network (RAN), a virtual network that allows them to share information in order to accelerate the pace of clinical improvement to less than one year. The RAN is sponsored by VHA Inc., a national healthcare alliance based in Irving, Texas. A unifying focal point for the RAN will be the clinical blueprint VHA has developed to help its members improve performance in ICUs. The network will focus on helping hospitals prevent or lower the incidence of blood stream infections, catheterrelated infections and ventilatorassociated pneumonia in the ICU. “ VHA’s clinical “The ICU RAN prothE NEWS: Hospitals improvement platject provides us with an ➔ to share data over form focuses on helpopportunity to network virtual network. ing members become and collaborate with What It mEaNS: leading performers,” clinicians in neighbor- ➔ Focus on better quality said Trent Haywood, ing hospitals to improve of care in the ICU. MD, a lawyer and processes of care and thus optimize ICU patient out- chief medical officer at VHA. “Our comes,” said Dianne Lanham, programs and services will help patient safety and quality officer guide members towards success at The Chester County Hospital in and improve clinical care across the country.” West Chester, Pa. “Hospitals across the state are under significant pressure from both federal and state insurance programs and private insurers to improve quality, and participation in this effort will help these hospitals meet that mandate,” said Mark Tino, RN, vice president of performance improvement at VHA’s East Coast office in Trevose, Pa. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: ICU 0708 l Imaging tech narrows research for brain cancer By BerNIe MoNegaIN, Editor DANVILLE, PA Geisinger Health System has begun research into treatment that could help patients with brain cancer. - Geisinger Health System’s Neuroscience Institute is using the latest optical molecular imaging technology for research of brain cancer treatment. The goal is to make surgery for brain tumors and inflammatory lesions simpler and more precise by using fluorescent nanospheres to more easily visualize tumors and lesions during treatment procedures. Geisinger’s neuroscience lab chose technology from Carestream Molecular Imaging - the KODAK In-Vivo Multispectral Imaging System FX - to assess which nanoparticles would be most effective for image-guided brain surgery in patients. Geisinger researchers expect their research and new tools will help make the healthy tissue distinct from tumors and in turn improve survival rates in the near future. ■ streaml More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: GeISINGer 0708 l aorN Continued from page 12 manager, perioperative informatics in AORN’s Center for Nursing Practice. “The SPR will provide reliable data that can be used for many operational and clinical evaluations such as identifying the effectiveness of care, utilization of resources, and evaluating costs in relation to desired outcomes.” AORN has engaged Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) to create the SPR and the data repository. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: aorN 0708 l http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9549 http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9550 http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9546

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Healthcare IT News - July 2008 Contents IT’s Financial Link eRx Power SOA Q&A Bent on Wireless Digital Switch IT Legacy Change Agent Panasonic 'Book' Taking a Shift Computer Types

Healthcare IT News - July 2008

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