Washington University in St. Louis has announced a minimalist approach for imaging to the medical world. Coupling a USB-based probe with a Smartphone to scan and transmit images which will all fit in the palm of one’s hand.
The following is taken from an article written by Tony Fitzpatrick which appeared in Washington University in St. Louis’ News and Information.
Computer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are bringing the minimalist approach to medical care and computing by coupling USB-based ultrasound probe technology with a smartphone, enabling a compact, mobile computational platform and a medical imaging device that fits in the palm of a hand.
William D. Richard, Ph.D., WUSTL associate professor of computer science and engineering, and David Zar, research associate in computer science and engineering, have made commercial USB ultrasound probes compatible with Microsoft Windows mobile-based smartphones, thanks to a $100,000 grant Microsoft awarded the two in 2008. In order to make commercial USB ultrasound probes work with smartphones, the researchers had to optimize every aspect of probe design and operation, from power consumption and data transfer rate to image formation algorithms. As a result, it is now possible to build smartphone-compatible USB ultrasound probes for imaging the kidney, liver, bladder and eyes, endocavity probes for prostate and uterine screenings and biopsies, and vascular probes for imaging veins and arteries for starting IVs and central lines. Both medicine and global computer use will never be the same.
“You can carry around a probe and cell phone and image on the fly now,” said Richard. “Imagine having these smartphones in ambulances and emergency rooms. On a larger scale, this kind of cell phone is a complete computer that runs Windows. It could become the essential computer of the Developing World, where trained medical personnel are scarce, but most of the population, as much as 90 percent, have access to a cell phone tower.”
“Twenty-first century medicine is defined by medical imaging,” said Zar. “Yet 70 percent of the world’s population has no access to medical imaging. It’s hard to take an MRI or CT scanner to a rural community without power.”
Shrinking the electronics over 25 years
Zar said the vision of the new system is to train people in remote areas of the developing world on the basics of gathering data with the phones and sending it to a centralized unit many miles, or half a world away where specialists can analyze the image and make a diagnosis. Zar wrote the phone software and firmware for the probes; Richard came up with the low-power probe electronics design. He began working on ultrasound system designs 25 years ago, and in that span he has shrunk the electronics from cabinet-sized to a tiny circuit board one inch by three inches. A typical, portable ultrasound device may cost as much as $30,000. Some of these USB-based probes sell for less than $2,000 with the goal of a price tag as low as $500.
Another promising application is for caregivers of patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. A degenerative disease that often strikes young boys and robs them of their lives by their late 20s, DMD is a degenerative disease for which there is no cure. The leading treatment to slow its progression is a daily dose of steroids. Patients often experience some side effects from steroids, which are dose related. These side effects include behavioral problems and weight gain. Researchers now know that physical changes in muscle tissue can indicate the efficacy of the steroids. Measuring these changes in muscle can be accomplished with ultrasound and may allow researchers to optimize steroid dosing to maximize efficacy while minimizing side effects.
“The idea is that caregivers, who otherwise have to transport a young person, often wheelchair bound, to a hospital or clinic on a regular basis for examination, can be trained to do ultrasound to track muscle condition,” Zar said. “This could lower the dosage to the least effective amount to further increase quality of life of the patient and the caregiver and hopefully extend life. We’re really excited about this application. The caregiver would only have to do a one-minute scan, transfer the data captured to the clinic, and the results would come back to the caregiver. A group at the WUSTL Medical School studying Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is very interested in our devices and hopes they can incorporate them into their research plans.”
Field trials in the Third World
Richard and Zar have discussed a potential collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about integrating their probe-smartphone concept into a suite of field trials for medical applications in developing countries.
“We’re at the point of wanting to leverage what we’ve done with this technology and find as many applications as possible,” Richard said.
One such application could find its way to the military. Medics could quickly diagnose wounded soldiers with the small, portable probe and phone to detect quickly the site of shrapnel wounds in order to make the decision of transporting the soldier or treating him elsewhere on the field.
Richard and Zar demonstrated a fully functional smartphone-compatible USB ultrasound probe at Microsoft Research Techfest 2009 in February, and Zar presented the technology at the 2009 World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C., April 14-16.

Changing what’s going on around you can revitalize your career.

There are politics in every business and you can’t totally ignore it. It is best to focus on your own achievements, not the noise around you. “People who find themselves stuck in negative emotions start politicking with others,” says Susan David, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based research affiliate in the psychology department at Yale University. “Negativity can be self-sustaining within a group.”

Further education can be the single best boost to your career. Finish up that bachelors degree if you haven’t and hit the books, night school or whatever it takes to obtain you MBA. In this employment market these degrees are wonderful investments. “An MBA is a great way to jump-start your career and move yourself to the next level,” says Stacy Blackman, a Los Angeles consultant who helps students get admitted to MBA programs. “It’s a very good chance to change disciplines, to completely change careers.”

Be willing to relocate. Sometimes location is the biggest barrier to next steps in a career.

How important is a company culture for you? I’d bet for most of us it’s very important.

It’s one thing to end up with a great job, benefits and find we’re really good at what we’re doing but the company culture is counter to most everything we admire or believe in. I mean, there really are core values and beliefs we live by. Life’s too short to spend your working hours with people “from Mars.”

Reading a company’s Mission Statement probably isn’t going to tell you how employees handle conflict resolution or how management treats their team. How do you find out if management will give you all the information and support you need to achieve assignments?

You can learn a lot in the interview process by asking if the company has a code of ethics, what kind of things does the company look for in an employee and how does the company recognize employee accomplishments.

How you are feeling during the process is important. Is the interviewer polite or are they mildly annoyed? Are you an honored guest or a prisoner detainee?

I had a job applicant tell me they got a strong sense of the company culture from the interview process. Not only in how they were treated but how the interviewer treated their immediate staff. The applicant told me he was in his final interview when the VP started yelling at his admin for not holding a phone call for him. Needless to say, the applicant moved on.

Best advance information about the company you can get will be from someone you know who already works there. But don’t be bashful, walking the halls of the company and asking employees can be illuminating too.

Barbara Jackson
Brava Medical Staff Reporter

In this current landscape of economic chaos, one needs to ask the question; is my employer financially sound? It’s no wonder today’s job seeker is leery about the future of the companies with whom he or she’s interviewing. Yesterday’s big company millionaire wannabes are pounding the pavement in search of stability and other job hunters are skittish about the prospects of accepting a new job, only to find out three weeks later their new company is being bought out or going under.

Before signing on with a new employer, it would serve you well to do a little undercover work. Doing some research in the days before a job interview can save some major headaches down the road. But where to begin?

If you know someone who works at a company that interests you, talk to them about what they see as its future. Have they heard any rumblings about layoffs or buyouts? An even better resource is a company’s former employee. They’re more likely to fill you in on all the hidden negatives within a company. They might even have left a company that interests you because they know that the organization is heading into troubled financial times.

Go to the Internet and review their Web Page. Is it up to date? Can you follow a strategic vision? How long has the CEO been there? What’s his or her track record? Can you see evidence of company performance?

Very few people think to take these steps, but those who do take them can find a lot of information about a company.

When interviewing, sometimes prospective employees don’t understand that they’re in the driver’s seat. It is widely perceived by employers that the best candidates challenge and ask questions from a seat of confidence. Ask really good questions about the business. People who do that are looked on as being really sharp.

Of paramount importance, because it’s now so hard to predict which companies will be strong in two years and which will be gone, a strategic career plan is essential.

Job security today is not defined the way it was twenty years ago. Few people are going to stay thirty years with a company. It’s critical that workers focus on the best strategic moves to further their career. The best security anyone has is to excel at being the best of the best and to build an impressive resume that makes good progressive sense. That no matter who the interview is with, you will be offered the job.

Barbara Jackson
Brava Reporter

Every medical professional has experienced highs and lows and peaks and valleys. The trick is to minimize the lows, continue to work, and take advantage of the highs.
We’ve all experienced negative gravity-pull. A state of inactivity due to a lack of motivation. Breaking gravity-pull is tough and continuing to sit and worry is the worst possible thing anyone can do. Conversely, anything that produces activity is the answer. Here are some ways to help get back on track:
• When you lose your momentum, you can usually trace it to the fact that you’ve lost track of your goals. Maybe your goals were too large and too long-range and you simply have lost faith in your ability to achieve them. Reset your goals. Break them down and create short-term goals.
• Accept responsibility for your life and future. Say to yourself, “I can do this. It’s up to me!â€" An attitude of self-responsibility is a quality of peak performers and high achievers.
• Enlist the enthusiasm, effort, goodwill, and support of other people. Avoid negative people who seem to take pleasure in dragging others down to their level of accomplishment.
• Go back to the basics: Review your past three month’s activities objectively. What was working? What stopped working?
• Review your customer records. Were there any significant changes in the buying patterns of established accounts? What new trends are you seeing?
• Change your routine. Reinvent yourself.
• Travel. Go to the field and stay out of your office for three or four days.
First and foremost, protect your self-esteem. Don’t view life’s inevitable setbacks and typical periods of feeling low as some kind of psychological proof of a hidden inadequacy. When a true professional has healthy self esteem, breaking the gravity pull and handling “the lowsâ€" are viewed as nothing more than an inevitable part of the game.

S.Chesterfield,
Brava Medical In-House Reporter

A significant increase in employee turnover is forecast for the first quarter of 2008, according to workforce futurists, all the indicators they routinely observe suggest the possibility of a surge in job-hopping.
It has been universally observed as employment has shifted from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, too many employers have taken their employees for granted, becoming complacent. People who were so highly sought after and valued in the early two thousands have become disengaged from employers who don’t seem to care about them anymore. It is now widely known that if workers are not appreciated by their superiors and co-workers, the emotional bonds holding them to the employer weaken. They become much more receptive to other employment opportunities where they will be valued.
In a study that has drawn a lot of attention, Towers Perrin HR Services reports that just 14 percent of workers say they are “fully engaged” on the job and “willing to go the extra mile for their companies.” A huge percentage of respondents revealed that they are really not engaged and would just as soon work somewhere else. Those workers are psychologically ready to jump ship if, or rather when, the right opportunity becomes available.
How serious is the problem? The Society for Human Resource Management reported a whopping 76 percent of employees are looking for new employment opportunities. About half of these people are actively seeking a new position-posting their resume on Internet job boards, surfing the web, talking with recruiters, networking with friends and colleagues. The rest are described as “passive jobseekers.” They’re not aggressively searching for a job, but are quite receptive to invitations to consider opportunities.
Further there is also a noticeable increase in inquiries from employers concerned about employee retention. Even though the concern is evident, employers are still waiting, putting off implementation of retention strategies until they think the time is right. Many of these companies will be caught trying to close the barn door after the horses are gone. As the employment market tightens even further this year, those employers who take pre-emptive action now will have the competitive advantage.

For more insights and tips on trouble-shooting employee retention, visit Dr. Donna’s Blog at www.BravaMedical.com
S.Chesterfield, Brava Staff Reporter
Reference www.towersperrin.com

Disclaimer
Brava Medical is aware that law and practice are always in a process of development and change. If you have evidence that this article is inaccurate or out of date feel free to contact us. If you know of any impending changes that affect its content we would also be pleased to hear from you.

It should be noted that this article offers broad guidance, which sets out industrial good practice, but it should not be substituted for legal and for other professional advice applicable to your particular circumstances.

Are you looking to leave your clinical job for a new career in commercial clinical applications or device sales? Not surprising, commercial positions are some of the most sought after positions in healthcare because they offer exceptional salaries and unlimited growth potential. Also not surprising that the pathway to these jobs is arduous, but can be managed if you are committed to get such a job and if you’re prepared. The following questions and answers are designed to assist you in your preparation:

What type of background do you need to enter into a commercial position?

The background needed for sales jobs varies by product line and market. The background need for clinical applications is hugely dependent on the number of registries one holds in any given field. Literally, all firms now emphasize a strong educational background. Nevertheless, many employers still hire individuals with previous sales experience who do not have a college degree. For some medical devices, sales ability, personality, and familiarity with brands are as important as a college degree. On the other hand, firms selling imaging products often require a degree in science or engineering in addition to some sales experience. In general, companies are looking for the best and brightest individuals who have the personality and desire to succeed.

Do companies offer training programs?

Literally all companies have formal training programs for both beginning clinical specialists and sales representatives lasting up to several weeks. However, most businesses are accelerating these programs to reduce costs and expedite the returns from training. New workers may be trained by accompanying experienced workers on their sales calls. As they gain familiarity with the firm’s products and clients, these workers are given increasing responsibility until they are eventually assigned their own territory. As businesses experience great competition, increased pressure is placed upon sales representatives to product faster.

How do you break into the industry when you have no sales or applications experience?

Register to be a member on Brava Medical. Let the Brava professionals help you. Brava Medical was formed and is designed to bridge the gap, to find and fit the perfect commercial job to the candidate. Other ways include networking with the sales representatives that you see on a regular basis in your hospitals or imaging centers. Many positions in the industry can be found via word of mouth so networking not only gives you insight about the profession but it may also get you your foot in the door.

Since many companies require a four-year degree, it’s important that you take special care when preparing your resume. If you’re a Sonographer, MRI-CT Technologist, or work in Nuclear Medicine, think about all the medical devices and products that you’re used in your clinical setting. Having the practical experience and hand on knowledge of these devices and products makes you a perfect promoter for the manufacturer. You’ve used the products and if you’re excited about them you will be able to communicate importance of purchasing the product to others.

How do I know if the commercial world is for me?

Those who want to become a sales professional or clinical specialist should be goal-oriented, persuasive and work well both independently and as part of a team. A pleasant personality and appearance, the ability to communicate well with people and problem-solving skills are highly valued. Sales professionals and clinical specialists should enjoy traveling since much of their time is spent visiting current and prospective clients.

What type of promotions can I expect in the commercial world?

Frequent. For those who excel, they never look back.

For the past few years, Career coaches have been all the rage among executives with itchy feet. Now because of the rising costs associated with losing good employees, organizations are following suit by inserting career coaches on their own payrolls. Some organizations like Deloitte & Touche are now spending as much as $2million a year on a career-coaching program and claim they have sent 23% of its workers through the “coaching” process, and that out of its 9700 employees, 760 of those workers would have left the firm had it not for their coaching system.

While estimated costs of losing employees vary from organization to organization, some as low as a few hundred dollars to as high as four times the annual salary of the employee, certain causes associated with turnover in any specific job or organization can be managed by a career coach. These include such things as high stress, working conditions, monotony, poor supervision, poor fit between the employee and the job, inadequate training, poor communications, and organization practices, or just itchy feet. On an even more serious note is the recent finding that after scrutinizing exit interviews, companies are starting to discover that many employees are bolting to other companies for positions not unlike the positions they left.

In today’s working landscape, the importance of enlisting your own career coach has spread from executives, to organizations to the ranks of disgruntled employee who just may think the grass is greener. Career coaches can help an employee figure out “what they really want to do, and then help with a plan. It’s not unusual for an employee to discover that the restlessness they feel, the yearning for more money, excitement and passion just might be found within their own company.

It’s time for the interview and you want the new job!

Here are some ways to impress your potential new boss.

• “What is most important to you concerning ……?”
• “What are the concerns or challenges you face in your business right now?”
• “What are some major objectives you would like me to achieve, assuming I’m offered the position?”