EHI’s industry news roundup 18.04.08

E-Health Insider’s industry news round up for the week ending 18 April 2008 featuring supplier news, acquisitions, events and awards.

Supplier news

Zebra patient wristbands proven MRSA-resistant

Results of independent lab tests at Northland Laboratories in the US show Zebra’s  patent-pending antimicrobial wristband coating effectively resists Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Type II, Type III and Type IV. “Barcoded patient identification wristbands provide the necessary foundation for preventing medical errors by making accurate patient information available at the point of care and enabling caregivers to confirm a correct match between the patient and the treatment provided,” says Aileen McHugh, healthcare manager, at Zebra Technologies EMEA.

OLM Group secures a controlling stake in Hytec

OLM Group, supplier of information solutions for children’s and adult care services, has invested in Hytec Information Security to procure a controlling stake. Through providing access to a broader and more enhanced level of resources, this collaboration aims to provide further support to enhance Hytec’s sales and marketing capabilities and OLM’s ability to meet customer needs in the area of information security and infrastructure management.

New drug reference application to enable access to Multilex DDF on the move

Healthcare professionals will soon be able to access the drug knowledge base, Multilex Drug Data File (Multilex DDF), on the move, following the development of a new drug reference application for mobile devices. First DataBank Europe (FDBE), working in partnership with Swedish software company MedHand International, will be offering the ability to browse Multilex DDF via a mobile device. Demonstrations of the application will be available on PDAs at Healthcare Computing 2008 in Harrogate (April 21-23), where FDBE will be encouraging feedback from healthcare professionals.

Southampton uni develops web software for hospital teaching

New Semantic Web technology which will enable more effective teaching in hospital scenarios is being developed at the University of Southampton. Dr Mark Weal at the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science is designing a software solution which will make it possible for nursing students to receive annotated video-captured feedback immediately after their participation in simulated practice events.

Swansea University and NHS Wales collaborate on ‘super IT’ project

Swansea University and the National Health Service (NHS) in Wales have teamed up to create an academic centre that will focus on improved patient care. The university’s medicine and health science schools will work with the NHS to ensure the successful application of super IT technology to enhance health service delivery, reports the News Wales portal

Appointments

BridgeForward appoint new UK director of sales and senior software engineer

BridgeForward Software, provider of application integration technology to the UK healthcare market, has announced that James Osborne has joined the company as UK director of sales and Jeremy Lindop has been appointed senior software engineer. Osborne joins BridgeForward from QAS (now Experian) where he was responsible for establishing QAS as the defacto standard for address management software in the NHS and private healthcare markets. Lindop most recently served as a senior software engineer at Sybase.

Events

Healthcare Computing 2008 – 21-23 April 2008, Harrogate

The HC Conference has changed its format to cover each of today’s foremost topics in health-and-care informatics in a different way. Over the three days, there will be 10 conferences. A brief description of each conference may be found at www.health-informatics.org/ or for a quick overview by day visit www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.16969.

International Health Forum, 21 – 23 April in Washington DC

The 5th Annual World Health Care Congress conference will convene over 2,000 CEOs, senior executives and government officials from the largest employers, hospitals, health systems, health plans, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and leading government agencies. Register at www.whcc2008.com.

Awards

Entries open for BT e-Health Insider Awards 2008

New categories in the BT e-Health Insider Awards 2008 launched today will reward excellent work by healthcare information and communications technology professionals in vital areas such as patient safety, security and wireless working. Details of the awards and online entry forms are at: www.ehealthawards.com.