In a recent report appearing in the August 2011 issue of DOTmed Business News, it was reported that advancements had been made in both endoscopy and arthroscopy which continue to facilitate seeing inside the human body and diagnosing illnesses. On the latest on ingestible capsule endoscopes, it is reported that in the previous year Olympus and Siemens announced a partnership to create a magnetically guided endoscope capsule.

Instead of experiencing the discomfort of an endoscope, the patient simply swallows the capsule and a joystick paired with a magnetic field maneuvers the capsule. Once the capsule is in place, cameras at both ends of the capsule transmit to a viewer. From the volunteers who participated in the study, it was reported that the procedure was fairly easy and that 93 percent of the volunteers indicated that the examination was comfortable and 89 percent finding it easy to swallow the pill. Everyone agreed that the guided capsule to the conventional gastrointestinal endoscopy was far better. This is good news for people suffering from gastrointestinal illnesses. For anyone who has had an endoscope down the throat, it is a most uncomfortable and choking experience. The technology is to be released shortly.

It is further reported that Olympus continues to improve its capsule endoscope technology and is marketing the EC Type 1 charged-couple device. The device has automatic brightness control and a structure enhancement function which allow the physician to see lesions and blood in real-time on a hand-held display while capturing images for later review. The software allows the doctor to move through 40 frames per second, automatically detects red marks and lets him compare four images at a time side-by-side.

In more news, it is reported that endoscopic advancements to battle obesity could help obese people gain access to lower-risk procedures and that trials are being performed to decrease the capacity of the stomach and to bypass absorption areas of the small bowel. Other technologies are also being developed to help people feel fuller, which in turn will decrease the desire to eat more.

On another front, it is reported that alarm fatigue in the hospitals has created a huge problem for humans. What this means for a nurse or a doctor is that the person experiencing sensory overload either grows complacent when hearing the alarm, possibly assuming that someone else will handle it and becomes so frustrated with a false alarm that he or she shuts it off or lowers the volume, or ignores it altogether. Alarm fatigue takes its toll on hospital staff. It can also be stressful to patients who are trying to recover from surgery or illness.

Earlier this year, The Boston Globe published an investigative report about the hazards of alarm fatigue. It was reported that a total of 216 deaths were, in part, due to alarm problems, which included an alarm’s volume turned down so low that no one could hear it; equipment not being properly used; and, in some instances, nurses actually revealing that the alarm warnings just became background noise that no one paid any attention to. Manufacturing issues were cited in just eight cases. Experts at ECRI believe the actual number of deaths due to alarm issues is much higher, but hospitals may underreport the causes.