Foreword

Healthcare Genomics

Genetic Tests

All about interpreting

Profiling can be inherently valuable, but we must keep it in the perspective of the entire picture of a person's health, lifestyle, environmental factors, and the like.

Genetic Tests

The ethics side

The industry should be addressing these issues right now. Ethics is the biggest obstacle to the future success of genetic testing.

Genetic Tests

All set for growth

Technology and the worldwide coordination of efforts to push discovery in genetics has exacerbated the growth of opportunity in this sector.

Personalised Medicine

An idea whose time is approaching

DNA sequencing of human genes could provide the 21st century with the ultimate in evidence-based medicine allowing us to tackle not only cardiovascular disease, but many other life threatening diseases.

Personalised Medicine

Future architecture

The standard “one size fits all” approach of treating many individuals may soon become obsolete. More targeted approaches promise to improve outcomes while reducing toxicity and medical costs.

Convergence in the Life Sciences Industry

Combination products show the way

Driven by market forces, a need for new growth avenues and an ever more conscious consumer, medical device, pharma and diagnostics companies are coming together to deliver innovative solutions.

Life Sciences Industry

Converging for better care

Combination products have the potential to respond to the increase in patient needs in a way that may be more affordable, easier to use, less expensive, or more effective than current solutions.

Combination Products

Enabling localised care

Combination products will enable healthcare providers to treat diseases with localised drug delivery and fewer side effects.

Healthcare Management

Healthcare Insurance in Asia

Strengthening the insurer-healthcare provider relationship

As Asia's MSPs evolve, so too will Asia's health insurance sector-and the symbiotic relationship that binds the two together. Indeed, it is not inconceivable that Asia's large hospital chains may one day seek to enter the health insurance industry themselves.

Consumerism in Healthcare

Impact on business models and processes

Healthcare providers lag behind other industries as far as transformation to customer-driven or customerfocussed organisation is concerned. For this to happen, the customer needs to be equipped with information about products and services, which in turn necessitates collaboration along healthcare continuum.

Hospitals That Heal

Hospital design for the 21st century

The evidence-based design elements are quickly becoming mainstream in the design of US hospitals. Clearly, they are as applicable and relevant to hospitals the world over.

Improving Patient Safety

Focussing on non-clinical skills

The aviation industry has been aware of the role of humans in safety, specifically the possession of non-technical skills. As a result, these skills are taught and assessed. The healthcare profession has only recognised the corresponding role only recently and training in such skills is developing accordingly.

Surgical Speciality

Laparoscopic Repair of Inguinal Hernia

The Israeli experience

A large series of randomised controlled trials conducted all around the world have confirmed clearly the advantages of endoscopic inguinal hernia repair compared to the open technique in terms of operative complication, discomfort, analgesic use and return to work.

Diagnostics

Rapid Diagnostics

Fighting emerging diseases

Hospitals must learn to incorporate new technologies for diagnosis for the simple reason that vaccination, drug treatment and other containment efforts cannot be maximised unless emerging diseases are quickly identified.

Technology, Equipment & Devices

Operating Room of the Future

Emerging technologies

RFID, UIP and VoIP are technologies that will ultimately increase patient safety while resulting in cost savings through improved workflow efficiency. However, careful planning should take place prior to installation in order to avoid incompatibilities and overload of existing local area networks.

Medical Devices

Going the generic way

With the application of the generic pharmaceutical model to off-patent devices, the availability of generic alternatives to branded medical devices presents an opportunity for a drastic reduction in healthcare costs.

Facilities & Operations

Patient Safety

The next level

There is growing acceptance of the newer methods in patient safety and a call to combine both retrospective and prospective methods in order to gain a complete picture of the patient safety challenge.

Information Technology

Connected Healthcare

What next?

Healthcare in the 21st century will require a much higher degree of connectedness and mobility of information, knowledge, processes, devices and people.

eHealth and Healthcare Practice

The use of e-health can positively impact doctor-patient relationship promoting the mutual participation model of medicine, which implies that, e-health can promote a shared responsibility in decision making and problem solving.

Intelligent Health Networking

Changing our way of healthcare

The fundamental reason for the healthcare IT gap, and the lack of impact of ICT in healthcare relative to other industries, is that we are attempting to use an ICT framework that is mismatched to the new models of care.

Cardiovascular Medicine

Integrating IT for better care

New interventions are urgently needed to update cardiovascular practice to the level of fast pace in the other areas. The rapid and efficient cardiovascular services provided by these new paradigms will improve standard of care and cut cost by eliminating communication gaps, treatment errors and redundant diagnostic testing.

Healthcare IT in India

This changing scenario of the healthcare industry has drastically changed the IT requirements of hospitals. There are clear challenges within the current healthcare ecosystem that must be overcome before the healthcare revolution is realised.