Funding innovation: Moving the business forward.

Gary F. Henry is the Principal Consultant of G F Henry and Associates, a management consulting firm based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Mr. Henry has more than 30 years of distinguished experience, including CEO, CFO and COO roles in both established and start-up companies. Gary was named an Ernst & Young Virginia Entrepreneur of the Year in 2001.

Rapid prototyping-assisted maxillofacial reconstruction.

Rapid prototyping (RP) technologies have found many uses in dentistry, and especially oral and maxillofacial surgery, due to its ability to promote product development while at the same time reducing cost and depositing a part of any degree of complexity theoretically. This paper provides an overview of RP technologies for maxillofacial reconstruction covering both fundamentals and applications of the technologies. Key fundamentals of RP technologies involving the history, characteristics, and principles are reviewed. A number of RP applications to the main fields of oral and maxillofacial surgery, including restoration of maxillofacial deformities and defects, reduction of functional bone tissues, correction of dento-maxillofacial deformities, and fabrication of maxillofacial prostheses, are discussed. The most remarkable challenges for development of RP-assisted maxillofacial surgery and promising solutions are also elaborated.

A 2012 survey of the Australasian clinical medical physics and biomedical engineering workforce.

A survey of the medical physics and biomedical engineering workforce in Australia and New Zealand was carried out in 2012 following on from similar surveys in 2009 and 2006. 761 positions (equivalent to 736 equivalent full time (EFT) positions) were captured by the survey. Of these, 428 EFT were in radiation oncology physics, 63 EFT were in radiology physics, 49 EFT were in nuclear medicine physics, 150 EFT were in biomedical engineering and 46 EFT were attributed to other activities. The survey reviewed the experience profile, the salary levels and the number of vacant positions in the workforce for the different disciplines in each Australian state and in New Zealand. Analysis of the data shows the changes to the workforce over the preceding 6 years and identifies shortfalls in the workforce.

A study of the bioengineered surgical sponge.

The postoperatively retained foreign body (PORFB) can induce complications leading to the need for follow-up surgery to ensure its removal, to treat or prevent the formation of an abscess, and to minimize the risk of death for the patient and liability for the surgeon and hospital. The most common cause of PORFB complications is the surgical sponge. Previously, PORFB prevention was focused on improved efficiency in RFB counting; however, because of the inability to entirely eliminate human error, cost, and the potentially unproven patient outcome improvement, new approaches have been sought. We examined the use of a novel bioengineered, biodegradable sponge (BSS) to reduce the risk of complications due to PORFBs, thus potentially improving patient outcomes.

A 2009 survey of the Australasian clinical medical physics and biomedical engineering workforce.

A survey of the Australasian clinical medical physics and biomedical engineering workforce was carried out in 2009 following on from a similar survey in 2006. 621 positions (equivalent to 575 equivalent full time (EFT) positions) were captured by the survey. Of these 330 EFT were in radiation oncology physics, 45 EFT were in radiology physics, 42 EFT were in nuclear medicine physics, 159 EFT were in biomedical engineering and 29 EFT were attributed to other activities. The survey reviewed the experience profile, the salary levels and the number of vacant positions in the workforce for the different disciplines in each Australian state and in New Zealand. Analysis of the data shows the changes to the workforce over the preceding 3 years and identifies shortfalls in the workforce.

Aplicación de técnicas de clustering para caracterizar proveedores de servicios de mantenimiento / Applying the clustering technique for characterising maintenance outsourcing

Objetivo Utilizar técnicas de clustering para caracterizar a los proveedores de servicios de mantenimiento de una institución de salud. Métodos El estudio analiza el inventario del equipamiento perteneciente a 7 áreas pilotos (264 equipos médicos). Se aplican técnicas de clustering usando 26 variables. Entre las más significativas: el tiempo de respuesta (RT), la duración de las intervenciones (DR), la disponibilidad y el tiempo de cambio de estado (TAT). Resultados La obsolescencia del equipo biomédico en promedio es de 0,78. Se identifican 4 grupos de proveedores de servicios. Grupos (1 y 3): Mejor desempeño, menores valores de TAT, RT y DR; cuyos proveedores son: O, L, C, B, I, S, H, F, G; representan el 56 por ciento del total; con valores de TAT entre: 1,4 días

Objective Using clustering techniques for characterising companies providing health institutions with maintenance services. Methods The study analysed seven pilot areas' equipment inventory (264 medical devices). Clustering techniques were applied using 26 variables. Response time (RT), operation duration (OD), availability and turnaround time (TAT) were amongst the most significant ones. Results Average biomedical equipment obsolescence value was 0.78. Four service provider clusters were identified: clusters 1 and 3 had better performance, lower TAT, RT and DR values (56 percent of the providers coded O, L, C, B, I, S, H, F and G, had 1 to 4 day TAT values:

Are we studying what matters? Health priorities and NIH-funded biomedical engineering research.

With the founding of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) in 1999, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) made explicit its dedication to expanding research in biomedical engineering. Ten years later, we sought to examine how closely federal funding for biomedical engineering aligns with U.S. health priorities. Using a publicly accessible database of research projects funded by the NIH in 2008, we identified 641 grants focused on biomedical engineering, 48% of which targeted specific diseases. Overall, we found that these disease-specific NIH-funded biomedical engineering research projects align with national health priorities, as quantified by three commonly utilized measures of disease burden: cause of death, disability-adjusted survival losses, and expenditures. However, we also found some illnesses (e.g., cancer and heart disease) for which the number of research projects funded deviated from our expectations, given their disease burden. Our findings suggest several possibilities for future studies that would serve to further inform the allocation of limited research dollars within the field of biomedical engineering.