Although the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® does not explicitly require that hospitals use information technology, many of the organizations that have achieved magnet status are making extensive use of IT, especially electronic charting for nurses.
Experts are developing a flexible surgical robot which they say could revolutionise keyhole surgery. The robot, known as the i-Snake, could enable surgeons to do complex procedures previously possible only through more invasive techniques. They envisage using the i-Snake for heart bypass surgery, but it could also be used to diagnose problems in the gut and bowel by acting as the surgeon's hands and eyes in hard to reach places inside the body.
A new California law expands the state's existing data-breach notification law to include unencrypted medical histories, information on mental or physical conditions, and medical treatments and diagnoses. Under the law, California residents must now be notified when their electronic medical information or health insurance information has been exposed.
Some intensive-care units in New York and South Carolina are about to get copper fittings as part of a project to test if drug-resistant bacteria survive better on stainless steel than on copper.
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore are developing a saliva test that could spot diseases such as mouth and throat cancer in heavy smokers, heavy drinkers and others at high risk. The screening test focuses on finding cells with genetic signatures suggesting the presence of these cancers.
Four regional telehealth networks that will leverage the speed and connections of OSCnet are among 69 projects nationwide receiving $417 million in federal funding to "significantly increase access to acute, primary and preventive health care in rural America." These four projects will receive more than $35,4 million over three years, representing the largest state share of funding among the 42 states and three United States territories garnering awards through the Federal Communications Commission's Rural Health Care Pilot Programme.