Archive for August, 2009

Inaugural Medical Device Connectivity Conference and Exhibition

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

meddeviceconn-conf

Tim Gee has put together an impressive conference. It's happening Sept. 10-11, 2009 in Boston. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. Hopefully Tim and others will be able to provide highlights from the many interesting topics.

Here's a condensed list of the agenda:

Day 1:

MEDICAL DEVICE  CONNECTIVITY IN HEALTH CARE: WHERE ARE  WE, WHERE ARE WE GOING, AND HOW DO WE  GET THERE?  Tim Gee, Connectologist & Principal, Medical  Connectivity Consulting

CONNECTING  OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES  Julian M. Goldman, MD, Medical Director of Biomedical Engineering, Partners HealthCare System, Director,  CIMIT Program on Interoperability and Medical Device Plug-and-Play Interoperability Program, Massachusetts General Hospital

INDUSTRY STANDARDS  (FORMAL AND DE FACTO) IN CONNECTIVITY Charles (Chuck) Parker, Executive Director, Continua Health Alliance

PANEL DISCUSSION: INDUSTRY STANDARDS – WHICH STANDARDS WILL BE ADOPTED AND WHY?

IMPACT OF PROPOSED FDA RULE ON MEDICAL DEVICE DATA SYSTEMS William A. Hyman, ScD, PE, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University & President, ACCE Healthcare Technology Foundation

IEC 80001 AND PATIENT SAFETY Stephen L. Grimes, FACCE, FHIMSS, FAIMBE, Vice
President, Technology in Medicine, Inc. & Immediate Past President, American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE)

PANEL DISCUSSION: HOW WILL MDDS AND IEC 80001 IMPACT THE MARKET?

HOW CLINICIANS AND DEVICE MANUFACTURERS CAN COLLABORATE TO REDUCE RISK Steven R. Rakitin, President, Software Quality Consulting & AAMI member

THE BASIC COSTS OF CONNECTIVITY Bridget Moorman, CCE, President, BMoorman Consulting, LLC

Day 2:

TRACK A - INFRASTRUCTURE

CONVERGED MEDICAL DEVICE AND ENTERPRISE NETWORKS: CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES

OPTIMIZING SUPPORT FOR POINT OF CARE AUTOMATION

DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEMS: REALITY VERSUS HYPE

WIRELESS SENSORS: PERFORMANCE, COEXISTENCE & INTEROPERABILITY

TRACK B – CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS

INFUSION PUMP CONNECTIVITY FOR EMR DOCUMENTATION

ENABLING POINT OF CARE APPLICATIONS WITH DEVICE CONNECTIVITY

POSITIVE PATIENT ASSOCIATIONS IN CONNECTIVITY

OPERATING ROOM INTEGRATION: THE INFORMATION CROSSROADS IN SURGERY

TRACK C – CLINICAL & WORKFLOW IMPACTS

POST SURGICAL PATIENT-CENTRIC CENTRAL SURVEILLANCE: PREDICTORS OF CARDIORESPIRATORY MORBIDITY

THE LINK BETWEEN MEDICAL DEVICE CONNECTIVITY AND CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT FOR INTERVENTIONAL GUIDANCE

CREATING A CONNECTIVITY STRATEGY FOR HEALTHCARE

OPTIONAL POST-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

ONE -- DISTRIBUTED ANTENNA SYSTEMS IN HOSPITALS: BEST PRACTICES

TWO -- IEC 80001-1: APPLICATION OF RISK MANAGEMENT FOR IT NETWORKS INCORPORATING MEDICAL DEVICES

UPDATE (9/10/09): Tim is posting conference updates here: The Connectologist

UPDATE (9/16/09):

Review #1: Wireless connectivity and medical devices

Integrating wireless technology into medical devices presents the industry with both a carrot and a stick: Stimulus cash (carrot) versus increasing demand for connective devices from hospitals (stick).

Review #2:  Analyst: Healthcare’s wireless sensor opportunity

Gee broke down some of the drivers for the recent interest in medical sensors, outlined use cases and dissected the market for the more than 200 attendees at last week’s event.

The Times They Are A-Changin

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

big fish little fishLast Tuesday CardioDynamics shareholders approved the deal to be purchased by SonoSite, which was finalized yesterday.

I know that being "absorbed" is a common occurrence in corporate America.  But reading about it and going through it are two different things.  We're just starting into the transition period. Whether it's good or bad, I think one reason change is so difficult is that it's always a process that you have to work through.  Getting used to a new corporate culture will take time and patience.

The harder part of course is that some of the people you have come to know and respect will move on to other opportunities.

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. [Quote by Alexander Graham Bell]

This is a good thing because they have seen the new open door and will be taking advantage of it. What's good for them is good for me too.

It may be a little weird (maybe not?), but as I've been going through this I periodically have one of these songs going through my head: