Carmel Sparke MODERN healthcare — high

Then imagine 30 orthopaedic patients handed the

have only just been relocated to another part of the hospital

which room the patient is calling from because there is no

when other patients rang their bells .

tech and high cost with com-

same device so they can

amid concerns that the system

way to differentiate between

“ Part of that was because

plex , life-saving , comput-

summon a nurse .

was not working out as hoped .

the 30 bells .”

[ the nurses ] were having to

er-guided machinery that ,

That appears to have

One visitor , Eric , told the

He said the result was that

go to every bed and ask , ‘ Was

in the 21st century at least ,

been the system used at the

broadcaster that , when he

patients were having great

that you ?’”

does more than go ping .

hospital in one of its wards

had visited his wife , who was

difficulty in getting their

The hospital was a little

So picture Nepean Hos-

for more than a year after

on crutches , patient care was

needs met for pain relief or

unclear about what had been

pital in Sydney and an

the bedside alert system

impacted because numerous

assistance to get to the toilet .

going on .

old-fashioned hotel coun-

malfunctioned .

bells would frequently sound

A patient , Jo , backed this

In a statement , it said that

Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers .

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ter bell — say , the one used by holiday-makers who had booked a week ’ s stay at Fawlty Towers .

It is not clear what finally prompted hospital management to act , but according to the ABC , patients on the ward

at the same time .

Pointing out the potential design flaw , he told the ABC : “ The nurses don ’ t know

up , telling the ABC that , although she was on crutches and could get to the toilet , often no-one would come

patients had been moved to another part of the hospital and that there had been no ongoing disruptions to patient

care .

However , it declined to

confirm whether the bells had

been issued to patients or how

long the faulty system had

been broken .

“ Due to faults with the

nurse call and emergency call

bell system on Nepean Hospital

’ s E3A orthopaedics ward ,

hospital management made

the decision to temporarily

close and relocate the ward to

ensure the continued safety

of patients and staff ,” said a

Nepean Blue Mountains Local

Health District spokesperson .

“ The decision to close this

ward is temporary , with plans

to reopen once critical faults

in the nurse call and emergency

call bell system have

been repaired .

“ Works to restore the system

have commenced and are

expected to be completed by

September 2024 .”

HealthDay RADIOLOGISTS experienced a one-third workload reduction when artificial intelligence was involved in a mammography screening program , a new study shows .

The analysis included more than 60,700 women ( aged 50-69 ) who had biennial mammography screening during the year before artificial intelligence ( AI ) implementation and some 58,200 women in the year after .

After the AI system was introduced , the recall rate decreased by 20 %, the cancer detection rate increased ( 0.70 % vs 0.82 %) and the false-positive rate decreased . In addition , the positive predictive value increased ( 23 % vs 34 %), the rate of small cancers ( ≤1cm ) increased ( 37 % vs 45 %), the rate of node-negative cancers was unchanged and the rate of invasive cancers decreased ( 85 % vs 80 %).

Post-implementation , the radiologists ’ reading workload declined by 33 %, according to the study . Radiology 2024 ; 4 Jun .