GE Healthcare recently launched the Edison Developer Program to accelerate the adoption and impact of intelligent applications and developer services across health systems. The program is based on Edison, GE Healthcare’s secure intelligence platform, and helps healthcare providers gain easier access to market ready algorithms and applications by directly integrating these technologies into existing workflows.
For developers, the Edison Developer Program offers a rich set of healthcare services to help accelerate their ability to build innovations that improve operational and clinical outcomes – and also gives them access to scale and the ability to deploy applications across GE Healthcare’s massive customer base. This program expands the existing Edison ecosystem of leading researchers, technology providers and academic institutions who develop, manage, secure and distribute advanced applications, services and AI algorithms to drive real healthcare outcomes.
GE notes that investment in healthcare startups is exploding – but implementing new innovations effectively can be cumbersome and complex, slowing adoption. For instance, deploying a one-off clinical AI application is currently a manual and disjointed process. The company points out that clinicians are looking for a single solution that can span multiple modalities and seamlessly integrate applications or AI algorithms directly into their existing workflows to harness the power of these technologies.
The Edison Developer Program addresses these needs directly by bringing market-ready AI applications to the Edison platform, integrating them into existing GE Healthcare offerings – on medical devices, in the cloud or at the edge of the network. This deep integration makes it easier for AI and analytics innovators to build, deploy and distribute their offerings. It breaks down barriers to adoption for clinicians, ultimately reducing costs and improving the value of new solutions.
“The opportunities for healthcare with a truly intelligent connected digital enterprise are significant, but no one organization can get there alone,” said Amit Phadnis, Chief Digital Officer, GE Healthcare. “The Edison Developer Program is unique in its deep technology integration and scaling through the workflow, opening the door to faster adoption by health systems. Bringing together leading technology providers, developers and academic institutions under a single, connected ecosystem will help our customers simplify and optimize data aggregation and orchestration of clinical and operational applications in ways that have the potential to create real impact from the bottom line to better patient outcomes.”
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The launch of the next generation in mini C-arm imaging, the Fluoroscan InSight FD Mini C-Arm, addresses the continuum of skeletal healthcare. The enhanced system offers a variety of improved features designed to arm orthopedists, podiatrists and clinicians with diversified imaging options, more flexible storage and transport, and an enhanced interface. The Fluoroscan InSight FD Mini C-arm provides high-resolution and low-dose rate modes, which deliver the largest image size and highest image resolution available, on an intuitive 24-inch HD touchscreen. The low-dose rate mode allows physicians to reduce dose rates by up to 50 percent compared to Auto Mode, while continuing to deliver clinically equivalent images. The high-resolution mode enables clinicians to use full detector resolution. The new system also offers MegaView Image in Review Mode, providing clinicians the option to display and view 50 percent larger images. In addition to these imaging upgrades, the system also features hardware updates. These include a streamlined monitor arm with integrated keyboard and reduced top casting that equip clinicians with increased range of motion and positioning options in the operating room. The method for locking the C-arm has also been simplified, reducing the total width of the system in the locked position. Beyond updates to the system’s imaging options and hardware, enhancements also have been made to its interface. These features include a pinch-to-zoom feature, save notifications that allow a way to identify saved images, a save filter to let the clinician filter for saved images, and an auto-save option to save all images acquired during a session. The Fluoroscan InSight FD Mini C-Arm is now available, and options for new software are available for current Fluoroscan InSight FD Mini C-Arm customers.
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Transporting sick patients can be a stressful task, and the sicker the patient, the greater the chance of problems during transport. The patient’s vital signs are monitored extensively and continuously in all care areas of the hospital but in the emergency room (ER), the operating room (OR), and the intensive care unit (ICU), it’s perhaps especially important as many patients in these units need very close surveillance and doctors need real-time information. When transferring these patients, it’s important not to lose vital information when plugging and unplugging equipment, so called blind spots.

It all starts with weighing the risks of patient transport against the benefits. Transferring a sick patient from the ICU or the ER to another unit or department in the hospital can be risky – and it is often stressful for both the patient and the healthcare professionals responsible for the transfer.  Recent studies indicate that transported patients suffer two to four times more complications than non-transported ones, and about 46% of transported patients experience adverse events. Transport within the hospital is also associated with a longer patient stay in the ICU.

For a critically ill patient, the reduction or change of care and the movement itself can become the cause for serious complications and put their health at risk.  Airway-related and pulmonary complications can occur during transport, as well as hemodynamic alterations. Cardiac arrest remains a concern for critically ill patients undergoing transfer, and intra-hospital transport has been suggested as a potential risk factor for infection. But intra-hospital transport can be necessary, as patients need diagnostic or therapeutic procedures or tests that are vital for their treatment and need to be conducted in another part of the facility.

Nurses play critical roles in helping to ensure that transports go smoothly and without blind spots, but the process may require cumbersome setups, especially when using large patient monitors which, because of their size, are not very convenient for this purpose. Also, transport monitors often have to be placed in patients’ beds. This means they sometimes get lost under the covers or may even drop on the floor. On the other hand, unplugging a patient from a monitor to be transferred, even for the shortest amount of time, means doctors lose some potentially critical information.

CARESCAPE ONE, launched at Euroanaesthesia 2018 in Copenhagen, is a lightweight plug-and-play transport monitor, designed to reduce complexity and transport within the hospital, while being durable enough to withstand drops to the floor — as can happen in the hectic hospital environment. It is fitted with a cable mount that holds all the cables, improving patient comfort. The parameter connectors of the new monitor are easy to attach and use identical USB ports so that any parameter may be plugged into any port.

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Samsung announced 10 June 2020 the immediate availability of the RS85 Prestige, the latest addition to the company’s portfolio of ultrasound systems. The RS85 Prestige is designed for scanning performance and delivers consistent image clarity, depth of penetration and sensitivity to perfusion of blood flow. Dan Monaghan, Senior Director, Ultrasound at NeuroLogica, the healthcare subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, said: “The combination of processing speed, leading software and Advanced Intelligence features and performance makes the RS85 Prestige a beneficial addition to a hospital’s radiology suite.”
At the core of the image quality of the RS85 Prestige is Crystal Architecture™, which combines advanced beamforming (CrystalBeam™), sophisticated image processing (CrystalPure™) and advanced S-Vue Transducers™ to produce clear, uniform, high-resolution images. Additional features include:

• ShadowHDR™ – Designed to suppress shadows and enhance the clarity of detailed grayscale images. TAI™, TSI™ – Provides quantitative tissue attenuation measurement and tissue scatter distribution measurement to assess steatotic liver changes.
• LumiFlow™ – Displays a “3D-like” appearance to 2D colour Doppler, enhancing spatial comprehension of blood vessels and aiding in the understanding of vessel boundaries.
• MV-Flow™ – An advanced Doppler technology providing detailed documentation of microvascular perfusion into tissues and organs.
• S-Shearwave Imaging™ – Allows for noninvasive assessment of the stiffness for tissue/ lesions in various applications such as breast, liver, MSK and prostate.

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Radiometer has announced the commercial launch of its CE-marked point-of-care tests for creatinine and urea, the latest additions to the ABL90 FLEX PLUS blood gas analyser’s test menu. The versatile ABL90 FLEX PLUS is the only compact blood gas analyser on the market to offer such an extensive range of critical care parameters – blood gas, electrolytes, metabolites and co-oximetry. It provides rapid analysis of 19 parameters from as little as 65 µL of blood, with results available in just 35 seconds.
The addition of creatinine and urea to the ABL90 FLEX PLUS analyser’s test menu makes this device ideal for point-of-care testing, proving fast results that allow caregivers to make clinical decisions faster and more accurately. This enables a more proactive approach to treatment, helping to improve patient flow and reduce waiting times in emergency and critical care settings, benefitting clinicians and patients alike.

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