Biomedical subjects
F Fox
Publications and source records attributed to F Fox.
Focus on: The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, Biomedical Instrumentation Department.
The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, is a 1,527-bed, tertiary care teaching hospital that is both a national and international referral center for medical care in many medical and surgical specialties. The Biomedical Instrumentation Department provides services throughout the hospital in all aspects of clinical equipment management and clinical engineering. With 29 employees and an annual budget of $2.1 million, the department enhances efficiency in the delivery of quality medical care.
Laboratory evaluation of pressure transducer domes containing a diaphragm.
Pressure transducers are being used with increasing frequency in patient care. The recent availability of sterile transducer domes containing a diaphragm provides a means for reducing the risk of bacteremia when using these devices. The present studies measured the effect of diaphragm domes on the accuracy of pressure measurement. The sensitivity and frequency responses of 5 pressure transducers utilizing diaphragm and nondiaphragm domes were compared. The results indicate that the type of dome utilized and the method of dome application can significantly modify pressure transducer performance. The data are useful in providing optimal accuracy and reliability of pressure measurments when using a diaphragm dome, pressure transducer combination.
Developing a model for technology assessment. A system helps its facilities prepare for technological change.
In 1991 the Franciscan Health System (FHS), Philadelphia, created a Technology Assessment Task Force to support specific goals and strategies in the FHS strategic plan and to help prepare its members for technological change. Because FHS is a large and diverse system, with facilities in seven states both on the East Coast and in the Pacific Northwest, the task force needed to develop flexible recommendations with broad applicability. The task force recommended a time-phased approach for changing the way technology is identified, acquired, and used in FHS organizations. Key recommendations included (1) creating a standing FHS technology steering committee, (2) implementing a technology assessment model for selected technology activities, (3) sponsoring systemwide technology conferences, and (4) reviewing FHS technology actions, revising as appropriate. The system and hospital leadership adopted the task force's recommendations and are now implementing them.
Streamlining equipment maintenance record-keeping.
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Time course of osteocalcin, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, and C-terminal procollagen peptide during callus distraction.
This study involved 15 patients who were undergoing extremity lengthening by callus distraction. Blood samples and radiographs of the callus distraction segment were obtained before surgery, every 2 weeks during the distraction phase, and every 4 weeks between the end of distraction and removal of the fixator. A digital radiograph analysis system was used to determine the radiographic density of the callus distraction segments. In addition, the serum parameters osteocalcin, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, and C-terminal procollagen peptide (PICP) were evaluated. The radiographic density was constant during the distraction phase, but increased logarithmically during the consolidation period. Similar kinetics were observed for osteocalcin, with an average coefficient of correlation between these two parameters of 0.66+/-0.15. PICP levels rose rapidly after surgery and increased further during the consolidation period. Serum levels of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase were not uniform between patients, and there was no correlation to the kinetics of radiographic density or the other serum parameters. The similarity between radiographic density and osteocalcin kinetics, as well as the rapid postoperative increase in PICP, imply that further information may be obtained about osteoneogenesis from the study of these two serum parameters.
A harmonised approach to setting OEL's.
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