News in Brief
Symposium to Shed Light On Systems Engineering
Adopting a Lean approach to improving systems engineering (SE) visibility in a large operational system and influencing healthcare decision makers about SE are just two of the hot topics to be discussed at the 2013 INCOSE International Symposium scheduled for June 24–27 in Philadelphia.
INCOSE (International Council on Systems Engineering) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes international collaboration in SE practice, education, and research, and has more than 8,000 members worldwide, according to its website.
During the INCOSE event, the Biomedical & Healthcare Working Group will host a number of sessions, including a roundtable on SE challenges. AAMI is a participating organization for the event. Other organizations that are expected to participate are GE Healthcare, Medtronic, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Partners Healthcare, and Philips.
To register for the INCOSE symposium, please link here .
New TIR Examines Distributed Care
Experts say the growth of healthcare in nonclinical settings requires special attention by manufacturers. With that in mind, AAMI has released a new Technical Information Report, AAMI TIR49:2013, Design of training and instructional materials for medical devices used in nonclinical environments.
When designing devices for nonclinical environments, manufacturers must take human factors engineering principles into account, the TIR notes. Doing so will enhance the safety of both the user and the patient.
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| Daryle Gardner-Bonneau |
"We hope the TIR also will serve to raise awareness that in the 21st century, effective training and instruction, especially when it comes to lay users and/or complex devices, means more than providing static paper documents, whether or not they are made available via the Internet," said Daryle Gardner-Bonneau, PhD, of Bonneau & Associates.
"Our industry has recognized the need to improve the effectiveness of user labeling and training. We hope that this TIR provides a good, basic framework for how to do this," added Agilis Consulting Group President Pat Patterson.
To order, call +1-877-249-8226, or shop at the AAMI Store at my.aami.org/store. The product code is TIR49 or TIR49-PDF and the price is $120 nonmembers/ $60 AAMI members.
Small-bore Connectors Initiative Moves Forward
A year from now, hospitals and other healthcare facilities likely will start to see newly designed small-bore connectors on the market, the end result of an ambitious and sweeping effort to eliminate a significant patient safety hazard—misconnections.
An international joint working group is completing a series of standards that will, when implemented, make tubing misconnections virtually impossible because the design of the connector will no longer be universal. Instead, the design of each connector will be specific to its application.
The working group, ISO/TC 210 & IEC/SC 62D JWG4—for which AAMI serves as secretariat—is working on what's called the 80369 series.
The new connectors will start to reach the market as early as mid-2014 and extending into 2015.
If you have any questions about this topic, please contact Colleen Elliott, director of Standards, at celliott@aami.org or 703-253-8261.
AAMI Publications Snag Three Awards
BI&T (Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology), Horizons, and AAMI News were big winners in a national competition of healthcare publications.
The American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors honored AAMI with:
- A Gold Award for best special supplement for the fall 2012 edition of Horizons that focused on mobile health.
- A Gold Award for single issue of a newsletter for the April 2012 edition of AAMI News.
- A Bronze Award for best news coverage for a cover story in BI&T that examined cybersecurity and healthcare.
Steve Campbell, chief marketing and communications officer for AAMI, said the awards were a tribute to both staff and AAMI members, many of whom volunteer their time to write and peer review articles.
Ray Laxton, chair of AAMI's Board of Directors and vice president of strategic partnerships with ARAMARK Healthcare Technologies, said winning the awards marks a proud moment for the organization. "We were up against some top publications in healthcare, and some much larger publications with significant resources. These awards are not only for the AAMI staff and Editorial Board, but for all AAMI members," Laxton said.
AAMI News: June 2013, Vol. 48, No. 6