Kuwait Association of Biomedical Engineers (KABME)

Picture Archiving Systems in Dentistry: From the Imaging Informatics Week 2010

2011-07-23T21:08:00.000-07:00

This Presentation By. Abdullah AlJasim was part of the Medical Imaging Informatics Week 2010 by IEEE EMB, Kuwait.

Abdullah AlJasim Biomedical Engineer from Kuwait University Health Sciences Center.

FDA goes global with sharing data, regulatory resources

2011-06-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

FDA goes global with sharing data, regulatory resources

As part of a new strategy to keep up with imported regulated products, the FDA said it will work with international regulatory bodies to foster safe product development globally. The agency said the strategy, titled “Pathway to Global Product Safety and Quality,” includes developing international data information systems and networks to share regulatory resources across world markets.

“Global production of FDA-regulated goods has exploded over the past 10 years. In addition to an increase in imported finished products, manufacturers increasingly use imported materials and ingredients in their U.S. production facilities, making the distinction between domestic and imported products obsolete,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD. “There has been a perfect storm—more products, more manufacturers, more countries and more access. A dramatic change in strategy must be implemented.”

In a June 20 release, the FDA noted four key elements to the new strategy:

The FDA will partner with its worldwide counterparts to create coalitions of regulators focused on ensuring and improving global product safety.
The coalitions of regulators will develop international data information systems and networks and increase the regular and proactive sharing of data and regulatory resources globally.
The FDA will build in additional information gathering and analysis capabilities with an increased focus on risk analytics and IT.
The FDA increasingly will leverage the efforts of public and private third parties and industry and allocate FDA resources based on risk.

The strategy is a response to trends the agency expects to see worldwide in coming years:

Western economies will increase their productivity to compete with emerging markets and economies, leading to more imports and increased pressure to reinventmanufacturing processes.
Money, goods, data and people will increasingly and more quickly cross borders.
Growing demand, constrained supply and increased regulatory and social scrutiny will determine what resources are used, how they are used and the cost. Manufacturers will adopt new manufacturing processes and emerging technologies in response.
Governments worldwide will increasingly be called upon to mitigate the sometimes negative impacts of globalization on their citizens, making the operating environment for companies more complex.

When viruses attack ICU

2011-04-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

Intensive Care Units (ICU) are places in hospitals where people with special care are placed. Those people need continuous monitoring for there condition. These units are normally equipped with high tech patient monitor machines, ECGs, and ventilators.

Furthermore, ICU's normally keep higher standard of infection control to make them invulnerable to all kinds of infections due to the critical condition of it's patients.

e-Infection !

Last, week I was in Al-Amiri hospital, Kuwait. I was doing maintenance to a portable xray machine. There, I was struck with a view on all PC screens. Those PC's were running Critical Care Information system. In fact, all screens where showing a Mcfee Virus Alert. The list; as you see above, is showing multiple virus infections.

Even though ICU was equipped with high-tech patient monitors, ventilators and looked very clean and dis-infected, but it was; actually, infected with a special infections. These infection have no direct harm to the patient but they eventually do a harm !

How does a computer virus threatens life?

In these days, patient monitoring is not done at each bed. Each patient is monitored centrally by nurses & medical staff; i.e., at the nurse station. Thus, interruption in flow of clinical data between patient monitors and central monitoring system will definitely interrupt monitoring the vital signs of critically ill patient's .

Second; at critical care stations, physicians make electronic requests; i.e., for lab or imaging procedures. Virus infections can make those PC's slow or make them completely down by corrupting some files. In fact, delay in exam requests is definitely a life threatening .

Third, at critical care stations, physicians write there reports, notes or prescribe patient's medication. Virus threats on those stations; again, will delay the whole process at the ICU. Delay is not a good sign of a good ICU.

On the ground..

Frankly speaking, this ICU was not the only place in Ministry of Health where I have seen such virus attacks. Many places like neonatal ICUs, Radiology Departments, Cardiology, and Nuclear Medicine had the same issue.

In 2008, one year after world-wide attacks of a well know electronic warm(special viruses). the warm(or Trojan) with different names such as (DownaDop, Conficker, etc...) have hit most of ministry's information systems in a mater of a week. Moreover, xray and ultrasound machines were also hit by this warm specially those with MS-Windows XP were badly hit. Around 6 Xray machines went totally down due to network problems.

Finally, we have to admit that hospitals in Kuwait are in trouble ! In near Future we

might see a crisis due to the fact that the no. of medical equipment getting connected using

TCP/IP networks is exponentially growing.

Problem and Solution !

The problem is not actually the "virus attacks", virus attacks happen every day and everywhere, the problem is lack of network security , and maintaining that ! In fact, If you are connected to the outside world then you are at risk ! you don't have to be connected to the internet, allowing use of removable storage devices (i.e. USB sticks) is the biggest source of invulnerability.

The solution is not easy but affordable and better to start now than never.Effort to set standards for security in eHealth and for medical devices is going on. HIPAA is one example of such standards. HIPAA is a governmental act in USA to assure security and privacy of patient's health records. Some of these requirements are securing health records from viruses.

Moreover, and effort was taken by U.S department of veteran affairs to design a model for secure network of medical devices. See Excellent readings. Another effort was taken by Society of Hospital Information Mangament Systems (HiMSS) to encourage a medical device security disclosure like DICOM conformance statement. See Excellent Reading below.

In Kuwait, the gap is very huge. We should immediatly start some where. Niether we have IT team in hospital nor Biomedical Engineering departments have experience or a say in this. Thus a very rough plan should be divided into three stages.

Stage 1. Putting IT security standards on our list of priorities.
Stage 2. Forming an independent IT support team in the hospital independent from medical device vendor. If MOH claims that they don't have enough resources, IT team doesn't have to be through local staff, IT can be outsourced just like electrical maintenance or waste Management .
Stage 3. To Include IT support, Network management , and network security in medical device RFP, and the service contract (service level agreement.)

Excellent Readings..

Class I Recall- Product May Shed Particles of Tungsten

2011-04-17T06:05:00.000-07:00

Recall Class: Class I
Date Recall Initiated: Feb. 3, 2011
Product: Axxent® FlexiShield Mini, Model F5300.
[04/13/2011 - Recall Notice - FDA]

Breast Device Recall Made Most Severe
By DENISE GRADY
Published: April 14, 2011

Source: The NewYork Times

The recall of a medical device that left particles of tungsten in women’s breasts has been classified as the most serious type of recall, one involving “situations in which there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious adverse health consequences or death,” the Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday.
The device, the Axxent FlexiShield Mini, was a pad made of tungsten and silicone rubber that was temporarily placed inside breast incisions during an unusual procedure in which women were given an entire course of radiation treatment in one dose after undergoing alumpectomy for cancer. The pads were used to help direct the radiation beam and shield healthy tissue. But the pads were flawed, and left the breast tissue and chest muscles riddled with hundreds of tungsten particles.
It is not known if tungsten is dangerous because relatively little research has been done on its long-term health effects in humans. But it shows up on mammograms and may make them difficult to read, especially troubling for women who have had breast cancer and worry about recurrences. The metal particles resemble calcium deposits, which can indicate cancer.
That the tungsten shows up on mammograms is what made the recall Class I, the most serious type, said Karen Riley, a spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration. She said the particles could interfere with diagnosis because they can be mistaken for cancerous calcifications or may hide real calcifications. Twenty-nine women are known to have been affected: 27 at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif., and 2 at Karmanos-Crittenton Cancer Center in Rochester Hills, Mich. So far, 16 have had follow-up mammograms six months after their surgery, and all 16 were found to have tungsten particles.
Some of the women, concerned that the tungsten could be harmful, are considering having mastectomies to rid themselves of the particles. Seven are suing Hoag and the device manufacturer, according to Jeffrey Milman, a lawyer in Irvine, Calif., who is representing the women.
Mr. Milman said that for the purposes of the lawsuits, the government’s decision to classify the recall as serious was “icing on the cake.” The device was made by a company called Xoft, which was subsequently bought by another company, iCad.
The Axxent FlexiShield Mini had been cleared by the drug agency in June 2009 in an abbreviated process used for devices that are considered equivalent to products already on the market. That process, known as 510(k), takes less time than the procedure used to approve a new device, and it generally does not require tests on humans.
The shields, taken off the market in February, were cut to fit each patient, and Ms. Riley said the tungsten particles were shed after the cutting. But why that occurred is not clear, because the shields were meant to be cut and were made with that in mind.

Big names make big mistakes

2011-03-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

Did you recently login to Q8PACS Blog ??
Did you notice the FDA IT recall list ??

Today, I have loged in to Q8PACS Blog and; as usual, I was checking FDA IT recall list.

This time I noticed some thing special in the list. This time in that list we had products from all BIG names (see image on top)

This observation can bring many lessons to our imaging community. Some of these lessons are:

Big names can also make mistakes ..
Some times their mistakes are as big as their name.

PACS recalls: wrong measurement.
Majority of PACS Recalls are due to wrong measurnment by medical software. Those wrong measurment will definitely affect a diagnosis or a treatment plan. It's time to start QC program for PACS Workstations.

PACS is a medical device ..
Medical IT software are medical devices that are governed by medical device regulations. If you don't have those regulations.. make them !t are governed by medical device regulations.

Majority recalls are class 2.
Class 2 recalls are due to deficts which can have potential to cause serious injuries.

Take the effort and watch recalls.
Take the effort to improve safety of your patients by watching FDA recalls.

Medical Device Regulations - By WHO

2011-02-28T04:11:00.001-08:00

" The term medical devices covers a vast range of equipment, from simple tongue depressors to haemodialysis machines. Like medicines and other health technologies, they are essential for patient care – at the bedside, at the rural health clinic or at the large, specialized hospital. " MEDICAL DEVICE REGULATIONS Global overview and guiding principles. WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, GENEVA

تغطي الوثيقة الرائعة أعلاه تفاصيل متعددة حول التشريعات والقوانين المتعلقة بالأجهزة الطبية. منها على سبيل المثال: قوانين الأمن والسلامة ، ومراحل تأسيس تشريعات وطنية وعالمية للأجهزة الطبية ، وغيرها من المفاهيم.

اليوم يسعدنا أن نتلقى آرائكم حول التشريعات المتعلقة بالأجهزة الطبية في الكويت ، برجاء كتابة ما يطرأ على خاطركم حول هذا الموضوع دون الحاجة لوجود مصدر موثوق لهذه المعلومات .. لأن المطلوب هو إستقراء هذه التشريعات إن وجدت. برجاء إضافة آرائكم (باختصار) كتعليق على هذا الموضوع.

وشكراً

The above document covers many aspects of medical devices regulations such as; medical device safety regulations, standards, process to implement regulatory services within a government and so on.

Today I; kindly, ask our readers to identify a policy, bill, law to control and regulate the use, import, export, resell of a medical device in Kuwait. Your answer does not have to be referenced to some document. Just put down what you have in mind !

Please do that as a brief comment below.

Thanks

----

FDA Recall Database

همة شباب

2010-12-05T11:53:00.000-08:00

الهمة هي العزم .. والعزم هو الرغبة والإصرار لتحقيق شيء ما .. والعزيمة هي أساس كل فعل وأوله ..

أما الأفعال التي تكون دون عزيمة فهي أقدار .. لا يثاب ولا يعاقب الإنسان عليها .. ولاينبغي أن يفخر الإنسان بإنجازاتها ..

ليس الفتى من قال أبي * إن الفتى من قال ها أنا ذا

وإن كانت الهمم والعزائم لا تحتاج إلى فعل وحركة خارجية ، لكنها تتطلب جهدا عالياً يبذله الإنسان عندما يعزم على أمر هو فاعله .. ولذلك فإننا لانجد الكثير من الأحلام تتحق .. ولا نجد كثيرا من الناس من يعزم على هذه الأحلام .. بل يدعها مثلما هي : أحلام يقظة !

ولأن الهمم تحتاج إلى هذه الطاقة العالية ، فإن الشباب هم أكثر من يعزم على الأمور.. وهم أكثر من يعمل .. لأن لهم طاقة توصلهم إلى عنان السماء ..

ولأن الأمم تحتاج إلى البناء والتطور المستمرين فإن حركة الأمم لا تتم إلا بهمم الشباب !

والعكس صحيح ..

فإذا أردنا أن نوقف مسير الأمم .. و نهدم بنيانها .. فإن الطريق هو تكسير همم هؤلاء الشباب .. حينا بقصد .. وحيناً من دون قصد ..

وتكسير الهمم لا يكون دائما بالمعاول .. بل يكون أحيانا بإشباع البطن حتى التخمة ..

وحتى لايتوثب الشباب النهوض .. أقول بأن الهمة صانعة المعجزات .. لكن وضوح الطريق أهم !!

ووضوح الطريق لا يكون إلا بالسير على هدى من نور ..

ولا نور إلا بحكمة .. ولا حكمة إلا بسبر الزمان .. وهذا لا يوجد إلا عند من صقلتهم الحياة.. وهؤلاء هم من تعدى الشباب .. وطلا شعره بطلاء الكهولة .. أو شاخ به الزمان على الإخلاص للوطن ..

في النهاية ..

المطلوب هو شحذ الهمم .. والتجهز للمسير .. لإعادة الكويت .. بهمة الشباب وخبرة الكهول .. وحكمة الشيخ الكبير .. ومن دون همة الشباب فلا عزاء للكهول ولا للشيوخ .. ولا للكويت ..

"عمار يا كويت " ..

Medical Equipment Uptime Services

2010-10-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

SIEMENS UPTIME Center Shanghai, China

Introduction
Since ancient days of history, usage of medical devices and instruments was a great tool to improve health of human; in diagnostics, therapy, or aid. Medical devices played big role in improving healthcare services.

However, same devices who help in development of healthcare, did impose risk into ones life. Weather it’s an electric shock, infection, or exposure to high levels of radiation dose, they all can be lethal. Of course this is not a wanted result from those devices and that’s why we call them malfunctions. Malfunctions in those devices can be due to the nature of some materials, bad design, or poorly integrated components

“UPTIME” a quality measure
Frankly speaking, making a perfect device which doesn’t go down is almost an impossible mission. Quality of medical devices range from low to high (in terms of durability). One way to measure durability of a medical device is to measure percentage of uptime to downtime of the device.
In maintenance contracts, hospitals do; often, state their desired uptime and vendors; often, quote based on that requirement.

Prediction of down time.
Non the less, there are ways to over come frequent down times. For example, monitoring the device for critical signs of break down. A classical way of doing this is sound. In mechanical systems, sound and vibration give a big clue about a problem in the motor, bearings, etc .. Today, in digital world, most medical devices are controlled using a digital controller which keeps log files of it’s communication messages with sub-components. Normally, a controller sends control messages to peripherals through an I/O device. If no response within particular time a job is retried again for a couple of times. If still no response operation is set as “fail” and an entry on a log file is written.
Thus, by keeping an eye onto these log files a one can predict a break down. In fact, vendors usually keep their eyes open on those log files remotely to pro-actively maintain their devices to full fill their customer’s uptime requirements. The later is just one example of different types of service agreements most medical device manufacturers provide. In Kuwait, unfortunately, we know only one of those many service agreements. Moreover, until today, no single medical device vendor established uptime service center in this region which means that downtime is no option for healthcare providers in this region. Solution is to require that in the hospital’s next service agreement.

Knoweldgebase
Another way of stopping a break down before happening is to watch others. Now days, technical forums and knowledge-base software help a lot in solving issues as well as alerting others who use the same device of some problem.
many medical vendors offer technical forums for their products. These forums are good sources for alerts about possible break downs and solutions to them. More forums are available through independent user groups who try to help each other. See example.

Independent Communities.
www.excitepacs.org: Centricity PACS independent users group
Auntminnie.com: Digital Communities
Medicexchange.com: Connecting Healthcare buyers.

Vendors Communities
XCoPs: SIEMENS External Communities of Knowledge share.
Impax Forum: AGFA Healthcare PACS Forum.
NetForum: Philips Healthcare user forum

HelpDesk systems
Helpdesk systems are application which help in registering technical support calls, type failures, and all sorts of statistical data which can help in organizing helpdesk support, analysing failure frequency, and more.
SysAid V7.0 is an example of a free IT helpdesk, Knowledgebase and inventory systems. Using SysAid can help healthcare providers in keeping day-by-day inventory of their systems and is a great helpdesk support platform.

FDA Recall Database
Another great source for medical device alerts is the FDA Recall DataBase by FDA CDRH. FDA Recall database offers open access to all FDA recalls which are due to a registered event of patient threat incident. The FDA recall database contains reason for recall, affected systems by country and Serial no.
FDA accepts safety reports from any FDA registered medical device from anywhere in the world including Kuwait.
FDA provides additional services that help reducing safety hazards of medical devices; such as, MedSun: Medical Product Safety Network. MEDSUN is a service which brings awareness about reported safety hazards of medical devices and ways to overcomes those hazards.

Conclusion
Healthcare providers in Kuwait can still do a lot to enhance their medical device utilization, and reduce patient safety risks. Revising service agreements, monitoring FDA recalls, and implementing helpdesk and inventory systems will definitely improve patient safety and medical device utilisation.

MedSun: Medical Product Safety Network

2010-10-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

MedSun: Get e-mail updates

The Medical Product Safety Network (MedSun) improves FDA’s understanding of problems with the use of medical devices so that the FDA, healthcare facilities, clinicians, and manufacturers can better address safety concerns.

The MedSun Web page is a newsletter-based website which provides monthly updates about timely medical device issues that may impact patient safety. This website also provides public access to de-identified reports sent into the MedSun program, in addition to important safety information to MedSun participants and to the national clinical community about reported problems. You will see the current newsletter content on this Web page, or you may visit the MedSun Newsletters page to search past MedSun Newsletters.

Newsletter #53, October 2010

MedSun: Medical Product Safety Network

"Green Hospital" in Kuwait by KABME & KHI

2009-10-31T07:17:00.000-07:00

Kuwait Association for Biomedical Engineers' (KABME) & the Kuwait Heath Initiative (http://www.q8health.org/) proudly organized a training course entitled "The Green Hospital" on 30th Oct -1st Nov 2009. The course was presented by Cannon Design, designed & architected many Healthcare facilities such as King Faisal Specialist reserach Center in Riyadh and Brigham Women's Hospital in Boston, USA. Attendants of the course were from my institutes in and outside of Kuwait.

The course openning started at 9:10 AM with a speech by Ali Shehab president of KABME and another one by Dr. Manal Bohaimed from KHI. Another speech was addressed by Dr. Masomma Al-Mubarak Current MP and former Minister of Health in Kuwait.

On First day, Presenters gave an overview about the concept of the "Green Hospital" and main design elements of a Green Hospital.

The second day was about coverting a non-Green Hospital to become Green using the availabe resources of energy, cost, stake holders priorities and enviroment. Two case studies of King Faisal Specilaist and Brigham Women's Hospital were discussed at the end to view the benefits of Green Hospital.

Asset Managment System

2009-04-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

Asset management system enables organizations to organize, track and manage asset and work management processes to reach the required standard for high technology organization. Many Partners in industrial, healthcare, and etc are integrating systems such as maximo (IBM), Asset plus (GE), SAP as these partners are nowadays leaders in servicing, contracting, procuremet, functionality and investment. In Kuwait, a high need of implementing such systems in the healthcare sector because of the rapid increased number of assets and sites without the existence of systematic process to manage it. These systems are not only to manage assets; however, they are about managing the service the asset will provide.

KABME asks all of you to share your ideas and thoughts to reach a complete proposal to solve all of your requirements and issues.

Healthcare Facility Technology and Procurement

2008-04-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

KCBME energized the healthcare sector in 6-8 of April 2008 after organizing a training course titled (Healthcare Facility Technology and Procurement) for Ministry of Health. The course is presented by Eng. Malek El-Hussaini (GE Middle east Sales Manager for Performance Solutions) and Dr. Joel Nobel ( founder of ECRI , a U.S. non profit organization engaged in Health services research).

35 participants including hospital directors, department heads, engineering affairs heads and Biomedical Engineers attended the training course, which highlighted the cutting edge of planning and designing techniques to build a 21 century hospital. Also, topics such as Medical equipment purchasing, tendering and accident investigation are covered intensively.

KCBME is proud of this event, which incraesed the knowledge and awareness of Biomedical Engineering in our beloved country and special thanks to the following:

Dr. Ahmed Al-Awadi (Head of Mubarak Hospital)

Mr. Anwer Al-Thunian (Head of training department at MOH)

Eng. Ali Shehab (President of KCBME)

Eng. Hanan Al-Awadi (Vice President of KCBME)

Eng. Noor Bourisly (Undersecretary of KCBME)

Eng. Quatiaba Al-Hassan (Member)

Eng Asma Al-Loghani (Member

Eng. Ebrahim Sultan (Member)

Eng. Mubarak Al-Mudahka (Member)

Eng. Asma Al-Kandari (Member)

Mrs. Miral Hashem (Secretary of KCBME)

Huge Budget For Healthcare Services in Kuwait!

2007-09-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

KCBME launched their monthly meeting in August to discuss the preparation of announcing 1st Kuwait Society of Biomedical Engineers and to submit their thoughts and proposals of their role in the huge government investment in Health care in Kuwait.
KCBME believes that the coming years need sophisticated plans and targets to construct and to furnish the health care centers with modern designs and equipment.
KCBME has qualified biomedical Engineers, who have the ability to get involved in the coming committee to complete the projects.
Please shine your thoughts regarding this huge budget and KCBME role.

11th G.C.C. Orthopedics Surgey Conference

2007-03-27T05:05:00.000-07:00

In its first appearance, KCBME participated in the 11th G.C.C Orthopedics association conference, which was held at Arraya hotel on 14-16 of March 2007. KCBME table attracted many physicians, nurses and other participates as many brochures, articles and posters provided valuable information and knowledge about the application of Biomedical Engineering in the Orthopedics area. Also, the Quality Control Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Dr. Ibrahem Al-Abdulhadi visited the KCBME table where he was impressed and proud of the work of KCBME members. He mentioned that the coming hospitals projects will need the experience and knowledge of the Biomedical Engineers.
Moreover at the KCBME table, Professor Yacoub Al-Obaid, a professor at Kuwait University, demonstrated his latest publishing of text book titled "Trauma an Engineering Analysis-with Medical Case Studies". The text book is a valuable production of many years of research performed by Professor Al-Obaid and his colleagues.
Please shine your ideas and knowledge about the latest Bio-medical technology in the Orthopedics surgery.

The Biomedical Technology in the Diagnosis and the Treatment of Diabetes

2006-11-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

During October 30th to November 2nd 2006, Kuwait University organized The International Diabetes Conference under the subject " global Aspects of Diabetes". Kuwait Committee of Biomedical Engineers (KCBME) participated throughTechnical papers and leaflets that provided information about the latest Biomedical Technology in the field of Diabetes. It also provided many solutions and methods to improve the diagnosis and treatment of Diabetic patients. These Technology will be a huge benefit if the physicians and medical staff are willing to get trained and updated continuously. Post your feedback if you have new Biomedical Technology that helps in the field of Diabetes and the best way to train the end-user.

Karl Storz GmbH

2006-06-15T04:40:00.000-07:00

Because of the fact i don't have much to do i decided on writing a weekly report about the company i am training at, Karl Storz.

Karl Storz began producing instruments for ENT specialists in 1945. His intention was to develop instruments which would enable the practitioner to look inside the human body. The technology available at the end of the Second World War was still very modest: The area under examination in the interior of the human body was illuminated with miniature electric lamps; alternatively, attempts were made to reflect light from an external source into the body through the endoscopic tube. Karl Storz pursued a plan: He set out to introduce very bright, but cold light into the body cavities through the instrument, thus providing excellent visibility while at the same time allowing objective documentation by means of image transmission.
In realizing this dream, Karl Storz benefited from two rather contrary character traits: the unerring meticulousness of the craftsman and the imaginative power of the artist and inventor. Karl Storz was both. As a practitioner and an understanding, cosmopolitan entrepreneur, he succeeded not only in conveying his plans to his employees, but also in inspiring them with his enthusiasm.

With more than 400 patents and operative samples to his name, many of which were to play a major role in showing the way ahead, Karl Storz played a crucial role in the development of modern endoscopy.

KARL STORZ is now presented by ATC in Kuwait.

I.R.C.A.D.

2006-06-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

I.R.C.A.D www.ircad.com is the world's best cancer laparoscopy training center in the world, Strasbourg, France. I was in an intensive training course there few weeks back to see how Karl Storz units are being used by the surgeons. I learned a lot by attending different medical sessions and saw how doctors and surgeons tend to feel the instruments they are using during operations. I think it is critical to know what the customers, doctors and surgeons, need in the their daily work. Karl Strorz is a one of two sponsors, The other is TYCO, for this training center. It is really amazing to see the best laparoscopic surgeons in the world at one place trying to develop different systems to improve and ease their work process. Also i think these type of courses are very important to meet "important" people for future references. This course was part of the training i am going throw right now in Karl Storz.
I posted some pictures , enjoy.

The Technology of Neuroscience

2006-05-23T03:59:00.000-07:00

Neuroscience has been developed very rapidly during the last few years. The increase of studies of Neuroscience allows to obtaining valuable information of the activity of the brain. These studies lead to design new equipment or features in existing ones to monitor the activity of the brain. For example, latest anesthesia machines have been upgraded with two new features called EEG (electroencephalography) and BIS (Bispectral index) to monitor the activity of the brain during the use of anesthesia on the operation. These features allow also to measuring the spontaneous electrical activity of the cortex of the brain during external stimulation by the sensor of the machine to acquire data to help for evaluating the condition of the patient. In Kuwait, many hospitals have been using the technology of neuroscience as equipment including the anesthesia machines have been upgraded with the neuroscience technology features

Our Engineers are famous

2006-04-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

I was reading Alwatan and saw our fellow engineer Ali Shehab talking about Biomedical Engineering here in Kuwait. So take a look and plz leave a comment.

Can Biomedical Engineering provide Assessment and Therapy to Kuwaiti Hospitals?

2006-03-14T02:12:00.000-08:00

Biomedical Engineering provides combination of medical and engineering tools to study and to evaluate several types of disorders and diseases such as abnormal walking, abnormal cardiac activity, chronic respiration syndrome and hematologic illness. Also, the biomedical engineer in countries which have advanced hospitals helps in the treatment and the therapy such as using orthopedic and artificial limb principles to treat a patient with abnormal walking or using the tools of engineering to install a pace maker in a patient who has abnormal cardiac activity and etc.
Therefore, the issue of using Biomedical engineering in the assessment and therapy in Kuwaiti hospitals has been raised recently to see if it is applicable or not.

Is Biomedical Engineering up to expectation in Kuwait?

2006-02-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

Biomedical Engineering in Kuwait is unfortunately behind although all the financial and technical capabilities exist. For example, The government spends more than 30 million K.D. per year to maintain the medical equipment. I wish if a budget is provided for biomedical research and for developing the education of the biomedical engineers . This is due to the nonexistence of any biomedical department in Kuwait University and to the unqualified curriculum in PAAET. Also, seminars and exhibitions aren't even organized here. However, Our biomedical committee, which was initiated in September 2005 under the umbrella of Kuwait Society of Engineers have organized three meetings including two seminars. I hope that this committee will achieve its goals to develop the biomedical engineering in Kuwait.

Kuwait Association of Biomedical Engineers (KABME)

Picture Archiving Systems in Dentistry: From the Imaging Informatics Week 2010

FDA goes global with sharing data, regulatory resources

FDA goes global with sharing data, regulatory resources

When viruses attack ICU

On the ground..

Problem and Solution !

Stage 1. Putting IT security standards on our list of priorities.

Stage 2. Forming an independent IT support team in the hospital independent from medical device vendor. If MOH claims that they don't have enough resources, IT team doesn't have to be through local staff, IT can be outsourced just like electrical maintenance or waste Management .

Stage 3. To Include IT support, Network management , and network security in medical device RFP, and the service contract (service level agreement.)

Class I Recall- Product May Shed Particles of Tungsten

Breast Device Recall Made Most Severe

By DENISE GRADY

Published: April 14, 2011

Source: The NewYork Times

Big names make big mistakes

Medical Device Regulations - By WHO

FDA Recall Database

همة شباب

Medical Equipment Uptime Services

MedSun: Medical Product Safety Network

Newsletter #53, October 2010

"Green Hospital" in Kuwait by KABME & KHI

Asset Managment System

Healthcare Facility Technology and Procurement

Huge Budget For Healthcare Services in Kuwait!

11th G.C.C. Orthopedics Surgey Conference

The Biomedical Technology in the Diagnosis and the Treatment of Diabetes

Karl Storz GmbH

I.R.C.A.D.

The Technology of Neuroscience

Our Engineers are famous

Can Biomedical Engineering provide Assessment and Therapy to Kuwaiti Hospitals?

Is Biomedical Engineering up to expectation in Kuwait?