PLYMOUTH MEETING, PAThe escalating number of medical devices designed with software-based features presents new challenges for hospitals and healthcare systems. To ensure patient safety and optimal performance, clinicians and hospital staff must prepare for this integration of information technology (IT) into a wide range of diagnostic and therapeutic devices. During a November 15, 2006, audio conference, ECRI (www.ecri.org) will provide guidance on navigating some of the stumbling blocks associated with convergence.

Expert presenters will discuss protecting patient privacy, ensuring that clinicians understand how to use complex devices, and making informed purchasing decisions. Attendees will gain an understanding of key convergence-related policies to develop (e.g., patient data security); practical considerations for purchase decision-making; and critical patient safety concerns. Audio conference participants will also learn about key infrastructure issues and staffing needs that must be addressed in order to effectively prepare for the use of IT-based medical technologies.

"Navigating New Territories: The Convergence of Medical Devices and Information Technology" will take place Wednesday, November 15, from 1:00 to 2:15 p.m. EST (12:00 to 1:15 p.m. CST; 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. MST; 10:00 to 11:15 a.m. PST). Expert speakers will discuss:


* Core competencies required to manage IT/medical device convergence
* Technologies to adopt now versus those to wait on
* New business issues to consider
* Lessons learned from IT-based medical device implementations (e.g., cardiology PACS)

Conference speakers will include James Keller, MS, Vice President, Health Technology Evaluation and Safety, ECRI; Jeffrey B. Cooper, Ph.D., Director of Biomedical Engineering, Partners Healthcare System, Inc.; Stephen L. Grimes, FACCE, Director of Clinical Engineering, Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Nathan Pinkney, BS, RDMS, Senior Project Engineer, ECRI.

The registration fee is $139 for members of ECRIs Health Devices System, Health Devices Gold, and SELECTplus programs and Healthcare Risk Control System and $239 for nonmembers. The deadline for registration and payment is Friday, November 10, 2006. Visit www.ecri.org/audioconferences to register.

Conference recordings and course materials for "Navigating New Territories: The Convergence of Medical Devices and Information Technology" are also available for sale as a CD-ROM toolkit or audio-only CD-ROM. For those who missed ECRI's previous audio conferences, "Reprocessing Single-Use Medical DevicesIs It Right for Your Hospital?" (September 2006), "Implementing Safer Infusion Practices" (May 2006), and "Endoscope Reprocessing Best Practices" (March 2006), recordings with conference materials are still available for purchase.

To register for this audio conference, or to order conference recordings and materials from past seminars, visit www.ecri.org/audioconferences, contact ECRI by telephone at (610) 825-6000, ext. 5889; by e-mail at circulation2(at)ecri.org; by fax at (610) 834-0240; or by mail at 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462-1298, USA.

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