AIMS cuts surgical slip-ups

An advanced incident management system (AIMS), a centralised incident reporting and management system operating in public hospitals in Australia, will help reduce serious medical errors, says NSW health minister John Hatzistergos.

According to Australian IT, the underlying database technology was supplied by Adelaide health technology firm Patient Safety International - the commercial arm of the Australian Patient Safety Foundation.

More than half of Australia`s public healthcare facilities are using AIMS incident and risk management systems. All sites are supplying de-identified data to an AIMS database for national patient safety research. AIMS has also achieved offshore success, with recent installations in the US and New Zealand.

The World Health Organisation produced a policy brief on health technology assessment, encompassing an introduction to objectives, the role of evidence and its structure in Europe.

Medical Technology Business - Europe says this policy brief introduces the concept of health technology assessment, which examines the short and long-term consequences on health and resource use of the application of a health technology.

It is concerned with the medical, organisational, economic and societal consequences of implementing health technology or interventions within the health system.

Produced on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, the brief it is available as a PDF document.