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Biomedical subjects

D Bravar

Publications and source records attributed to D Bravar.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PACS experiences in Trieste.

The installation of a commercial PACS in the Hospitals of Trieste has been the start-point for a project of technology assessment, aimed at the evaluation of technical, clinical and economic aspects related to the introduction of this new and expensive technology in the health care system. During more than two years of use of this system in the clinical environment, several research activities have been carried out concerning the analysis of the organization of radiology departments in Italy, the analysis of work and data volumes, the evaluation of technical and clinical performances of PACS versus conventional film-based radiology, the integration between PACS and RIS, the experimentation of teleradiology applications. An overview of the most important activities and related results is given in this paper as well as some indications about future developments of the Trieste Project.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Clinical engineering in Italy: the activity of the National Research Council.

The results of a five-year effort to rationalise the process of acquisition and management of medical instrumentation in Italy are reported and discussed. The research programme, sponsored by the National Research Council of Italy, was completed in 1988 and focused on (1) acquisition of technology by hospitals; (2) assessment of performance evaluation and preventive maintenance procedures for biomedical equipment; (3) cost analysis of high-technology health services; (4) analysis of clinical engineering activities in Italy. The present situation and guidelines for the future are outlined. In Italy there are no official positions for clinical engineers in public hospitals; however seven health-delivery institutions have established some activity in the field and a total of 15 engineers are involved in it. Despite the obvious advantage shown by the experience of these pilot institutions, the field has serious difficulties in developing due to the policy of the Ministry of Health and the consequent lack of positions. To reach the level of service provided in other European or North American countries, Italy would need at least 500 clinical engineers and 2500 biomedical equipment technicians. However, the lack of professional opportunities does not encourage training activities in the field.

Biomedical Engineering↗

Rationale for a community strategy in the field of information and communications technologies applied to health care.

The challenge for Europe in the field of information and communications technologies applied to health care is that of addressing positively the problem of the widening gap between the expectations of the citizens of the type of care that can be made available and the limited resources to provide that care. If the expectations of the population are to be fulfilled, it will be necessary to find innovative ways of delivering health services and to do it more efficiently than has yet been the case. Advanced information and communications technologies will be important tools for Member States to achieve the levels of efficiency required. Based on the results of the Community AIM Exploratory Action, further collaborative work is required at EEC level to create an Integrated Health Information Environment (IHE) allowing essentially for integration, modularity and security.

Europe↗

[Evaluation of the performance of 8 computerized tomographs in clinical use in Italy].

In the past few years the use of CT scanners has widely spread in Italian health care institutions. This methodology has thus become an important part of our national health service--which creates the need for an accurate study of the various aspects of the phenomenon, e.g. technological, diagnostic and economic. In order to evaluate the quality of the CT scanners used in our country, we asked the majors suppliers of the Italian market to provide us with a unit from their production. Six out of 7 companies complied with our request. A standard protocol was used to evaluate the performance of 8 CT scanners, currently used in Italy. The following parameters were evaluated: spatial resolution, contrast resolution, noise, slice thickness, uniformity, linearity and radiation dose. Five currently-used operating modalities were employed. The results allow an overall assessment of the performance of the 8 CT scanners.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗

Trieste PACS project: a functional assessment.

A picture archiving and communication (PAC) system (CommView by AT&T and Philips) has recently been installed in the Radiology Department of the University of Trieste, Italy, and is currently under experimental evaluation. The current status of the system and the planned developments are reported. A major project at present is the evaluation of the impact of the PAC system on the radiology system on a functional basis, by applying in the medical field a modelling methodology developed to analyse manufacturing systems. Other research in progress is devoted to technical, clinical and ergonomic aspects, on the basis of a comprehensive assessment project.

Hospital Information Systems↗