Henry Ford Health System (Detroit, MI) and Memorial Hermann Healthcare System (Houston, TX) have been recognized as the inaugural winners of the National Health System Patient Safety Leadership Award.

This prestigious award is a collaborative ...keep reading this post

There has been a significant amount of activity (see here and here) regarding the establishment of PSOs - Patient Safety Organizations.  Simply put, Patient Safety Organ ...keep reading this post

The International Barcode of Life is a project whose common purpose is to assemble the sequence library and the technology necessary to identify organisms rapidly and inexpensively.  The iBOL project believes this can be accomplished using a short gene sequence from a standardized position in the genome ...keep reading this post

A recent study published by the RAND corporation says that creating a unique patient identifier for every US resident would reduce medical errors, simplify the use of electronic health records, increase efficiencies in the delivery of healthcare ser ...keep reading this post

Among all the plenary sessions at APIII, one of the more popular and talked-about topics had to do with the synergies and potential convergence of pathology and radiology.  Many presentations were given that discussed various aspects of this topic.  One presentation of note was given by Dr. Bruce Friedman, Active Emeritus Professor of Pathology at ...keep reading this post

We caught up with Dr. Ulysses Balis of the University of Michigan's Department of Pathology at the APIII 08 conference.  Dr. Balis shares his thoughts on this year's conference and how  APIII has grown in the past 13 years. 

He also discusses different technologies that he sees on the horizon that will soon be impacting pathology labs. ...keep reading this post

Dr. Mark Tuthill of Henry Ford Hospital was kind enough to sit down with us at the APIII 08 conference to discuss a variety of issues pertaining to the conference and the state of pathology informatics in general.  

Dr. Tuthill's insight regarding workflow automati ...keep reading this post

On Monday Oct 20th, a working group met at the APIII conference to take the first steps in laying the groundwork for an initiative that could positively impact pathology labs the way the UPC bar code impacted grocery store retailing in 1974.

The topic: bar code standardization for specimen identification.  The idea, born from multiple po ...keep reading this post

Last week, we released an announcement about the compatibility of our ID/Positive lab specimen identification and tracking system with the Cerner CoPathPlus solution.  The team at CoPathPlus has developed an outs ...keep reading this post

I'm happy to announce that we will be "liveblogging" from this year's APIII conference, October 19 - 23 at the Marriott City Center in Pittsburgh.

APIII (Advancing Practice, Instruction and Innovation through Informatics) is an annual conference for pathology and oncology professionals interested in t ...keep reading this post

In a manner of speaking, yes, but much more....

Its MEDTING (http://medting.com) - an online interactive platform where medical professionals can share medical images and videos and discuss them with other physicians.

Started by Miguel Cabrer, a Spanish medical informatics consultant, MED ...keep reading this post

Here is an interesting and thoughtful commentary by Dr. Bill Crounse, MD, Microsoft's Senior Director for Worldwide Health on the current crisis in the financial services industry, and its potential impact on healthcare reform:

Cl ...keep reading this post

(Tuesday September 16)

I had the opportunity to sit in on a great NSH workshop on Saturday.  Titled "The History, Art, and Techniques of Tissue Embedding and Block Casting" it was a fascinating look into the history and origins of the science of histology.

Where did the term “slide” come from?  A presentation by ...keep reading this post

(Tuesday September 16)

Here's a video interview with Kim Simmons, the Convention Chairperson for NSH 08.

In addition to her duties with NSH, Kim is also the Administrative Director of Pathology at the University of Washington Medical Center.

...keep reading this post

(Monday September 15)

Dako has a significant presence here at NSH. 

In addition to showcasing their line of equipment, including auto stainers and coverslippers, Dako is promoting their DakoLink integrated workflow solutions concept.  DakoLink is Dako's software that manages the entire lab workflow.  Its based on the idea of ...keep reading this post

(Monday September 15)

We are getting a lot of questions in our booth from attendees regarding the CAP requirement for two identifiers.  Many folks are wondering if a "human readable" identifier and a bar code containing the same identifier information on a tissue cassette and/or slide would count as two identifiers.

The answer ...keep reading this post

(Monday September 15)

Here's a tour of General Data's booth at the NSH show. 

Walt gives a good overview of our ID/Positive system for bar code identification and tracking of tissue cassettes and slides.

People from labs all over the country are telling us at the show that they are in the process of integratin ...keep reading this post

(Sunday September 14)

Initial observations I’ve found from talking to attendees on the show floor and in-between sessions: many, many labs are currently in “upgrade” mode.  Labs are looking to invest in new equipment and processes – including tissue processing equipment, automation technologies, and workflow re-design.  I spoke to a lab ...keep reading this post

(Sunday September 14)

The National Society of Histotechnology’s (NSH) dedication to serving histology professionals and providing continuing educational opportunities is truly impressive.  Founded in 1973, the NSH originally began as an idea of two histo professionals from the military.  A interesting history of NSH, written by Lamar Jon ...keep reading this post

(Sunday September 14)

The NSH 08 show floor at opening:

It seems as Ike did not want to go away quietly as it made its way up the US.  Yesterday the Cincinnati area experienced winds of up to 75 mph – no storms, just very high winds.  The result was 3 deaths in the area, numerous tree limbs down, trees ...keep reading this post

Its Saturday, the day before the exhibit hall opens, and the usual day-before chaos has descended on the exhibit hall at the Lawrence Convention Center:



Many people here are wondering how Ike will affect travel from Texas and other southern locations..we'll see how ...keep reading this post

The National Society for Histotechnology's Annual Symposium/Convention is one of the preeminent events for histology and pathology laboratory administrators and professionals.  Each year it continues to grow in popularity ...keep reading this post

Hospitals and Health Networks has released their 10th annual list of the 100 Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems. 

Congratulations ...keep reading this post

AIM Global (Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility) has announced that five new bar code symbologies are to be introduced.  These new bar code symbologies are designed to address the growing need for attaching more diverse data to more objects.  Two of the new symbologies are designed specifica ...keep reading this post

I recently discussed the movement concerning state health insurance agencies and hospital associations no longer paying for certain medical errors -- "never events" -- as a result of Medicare and Medicaid stating that they will stop paying for 8 of these "never events" beginning Octobe ...keep reading this post

This picture, from the December 1938 issue of Popular Science, shows the "latest technology" for preventing identification mix-ups of babies in hospitals:



This was only a short 70 years ago, and look how far we've come in healthcare technology.  This also sh ...keep reading this post

Over at Renal & Urology News, they are looking at the process that urologists and other practices use in choosing which lab to send their specimens.  In the article, Dr. M. Nasar Qureshi, MD, PhD discusses how some pathology labs are focusing on quantity of slides processed, which may have the u ...keep reading this post

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) just released a report showing that preventable medical errors occurring during or following surgery cause 10 percent of all surgery-related deaths and may be costing employers nearly $1.5 billion annually.

The study reviewed the records of ...keep reading this post

The team over at Lakewood Pathology Associates are known in the industry to be innovators in pathhology testing processes, diagnostics and specialized services.  They have recently announced that they are adopting a new name, PLUS Diagnostics.

"PLUS", an acronym for ...keep reading this post

Red means allergy risk. Or something else? In some areas, it all depends on the hospital.

Last year, a man with a serious heart condition who was transferred from one Wisconsin hospital to another learned the blue wristband used at his local hospital denoted patients with "do not resuscitate" orders at the larger hospital. Fortunately, t ...keep reading this post

I just read a discussion over at the WSJ on the recent tragedy of 17 babies getting overdoses of the blood thinner heparin at a Texas hospital.  While the point of the article is that no level of "computerization" -- e ...keep reading this post

This recent study by HIMSS details how many hospitals, though having ambitious plans for IT adoption, are doing it a slower pace than executive had hoped or predicted.

The study of 5,084 hospitals found that they spent 7% less on healthcare IT than they had budgeted for 2007 ...keep reading this post

Can a barcode system put in place for medication administration actually increase errors?

It sure can, especially when the system is not designed for the needs of the individual hospital. 

It becomes even more problematic when barcodes on medications and patient wristbands are crinkled, smudged, faded, or otherwise unreadable ...keep reading this post

The PRO(TECH) Act of 2008 has been introduced in the US House of Representatives.  The bill is designed to encourage speedier adoption of healthcare information technology while also protecting patient privacy.

A draft of the legislation was released last month that "gene ...keep reading this post

CAP TODAY has an excellent in-depth feature article ...keep reading this post

The California Department of Public Health disclosed that during a 10-month period ending in May, California hospitals reported 1,002 adverse events, including surgical procedure errors and objects left in patients after surgery.

State regulators are requiring that 28 types ...keep reading this post

Wayne Memorial’s new Bedside Medication Verification (BMV) program officially launched this month. 



Wayne uses barcoded wristbands to identify patients in their hospital.  Caregivers scan the barcod ...keep reading this post

A study recently published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) suggests that RFID systems can cause potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices.

Dutch researchers examined whether two standard RFID systems would interfere with 41 different medic ...keep reading this post

The movement to align patient safety and payment by insurers is rapidly gaining momentum.  Both hospitals and payers are coming to agreement that hospitals will no longer get paid for a number of "never events" -- serious medical errors that are preventable with the right procedures and available technology in place.

"Never events" ...keep reading this post