Patient Care

This page includes news coverage of various aspects of patient healthcare, including new technology innovations, what is working, what is not, personalized medicine and remote and telemedicine delivery. Find specific news in the areas of Care DeliveryDigital TransformationPrecision MedicineRemote Monitoring and Telehealth.

New ACS NSQIP Surgical Risk Calculator provides accurate surgical complication estimates

The new American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) Surgical Risk Calculator is a revolutionary new tool that quickly and easily estimates patient-specific postoperative complication risks for almost all operations, according to research findings appearing online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. The study will be published in a print edition of the Journal later this year.

Rating the ratings

I have consulted Consumer Reports before buying a car for decades, with satisfactory results. Does that mean I would use their rating on hospitals if I were a patient planning a scheduled surgery? I don’t think so.

Radiation dose plummets with addition of new tech

A team who showed that a quality initiative could cut coronary CT angiography (CCTA) radiation dose by half has continued to chip away at dose, this time through the adoption of newer technologies. Overall, they reported a 77 percent reduction in dose over a four-year period.

Docs needn't split identities on social media

Can physicians be among the billion-plus social media users and still maintain their intact personal and professional boundaries?

CR lists best, worst for angioplasty, carotid artery surgery

The September issue of Consumer Reports includes ratings for 2,463 hospitals in the U.S. that perform 27 types of surgeries, including two cardiovascular procedures. The analysis looked at quality and outcome measures such as mortality rates and length of stay for Medicare patients.

American Society of Nuclear Cardiology launches new online education activity on reducing radiation exposure

The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) has recently released an online education program for physicians and technologists involved in the practice of nuclear cardiology. This program offers continuing education credits and provides valuable quality control procedures and radiation safety information.

Solutions for improving first aid in cardiorespiratory arrests

An algorithm capable of diagnosing heart rhythm with just 3 seconds' worth of signal, and the demonstration that it is possible to come up with the diagnosis without stopping cardiac massage, constitute the types of solutions and proposals being developed by researchers in the Signal and Communications Group of the Faculty of Engineering in Bilbao (UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country).

Medtronic buys Cardiocom for $200M

Medtronic will pay $200 million to acquire a telehealth company whose products will be applied in the heart failure setting.

Around the web

GE HealthCare said the price of iodine contrast increased by more than 200% between 2017 to 2023. Will new Chinese tariffs drive costs even higher?

Several key trends were evident at the Radiological Society of North America 2024 meeting, including new CT and MR technology and evolving adoption of artificial intelligence.