COVID-19

Best practices and innovative ways of breast cancer screening

by Fujifilm EMEA February 4, 2021 Comments0

Today is World Cancer Day and we, at Fujifilm, we are continuing our fighting against cancer even in this critical pandemic situation. During the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries across Europe suspended breast cancer screening programs. In some areas, the number of patients who have had mammograms has decreased by more than two thirds.

Depending on the lockdown periods, which differed from country to country, the European breast units were closed one after another, first in Italy, then in other European countries. However, we know that breast cancer screening can save lives. A number of studies conducted by leading research institutions suggest that stopping screening could result in an increase in the percentage of women who will die from breast cancer in the future.1

There is much to catch up on now. With this in mind, screening units have established new routines, adapting their workflows and their workplaces. Across Europe, women’s health services have reorganised themselves in order to face the challenges of COVID-19, showing an exemplary and effective attitude to change.

To understand this change, we have invited influential voices of the European breast cancer screening landscape to understand and learn about the current situation. We asked them to tell us about how the impact of the pandemic has demanded new models of working and how this changes their relationships to their patients. The report created based on this new input is based on interviews conducted in September and October 2020. In case you are curious, the paper can be found here.

The message that we want to push and spread as much as possible is to take care of yourself, of your health, of your body. Book your screening appointment, breast units across Europe have implemented the best ways of working which help to safely reinstate screening services even in times of COVID.

  1. https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/covid-19-and-breast-cancer-care
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7652450/

Filed under Be Inspired Blog Healthcare

AT YOUR SERVICE – Anika Sand

by Fujifilm EMEA January 13, 2021 Comments0

Anika Sand, Application Specialist for Fujifilm Germany’s Medical Systems division, servicing hospitals in Germany, shares her experience and feelings during the Coronavirus pandemic. Due to the rapid developments of the Corona situation, we would like to point out that we conducted the interview in 2020.

– We are at your service. During the current Coronavirus pandemic our technicians and application specialists are working on the front line alongside healthcare professionals to make sure patients can be diagnosed and treated. These are their stories. –

Fujifilm: When the Coronavirus pandemic reached Germany, what were your first thoughts?
Anika Sand: At the beginning, when Corona reached Germany, I was probably concerned about whether and how the pandemic would affect my work – not only for Fujifilm but especially for doctors, nurses and patients. The facilities, like hospitals or doctor’s practices, had to prepare for the situation within a short time. Life outside of hospitals also became more difficult for everyone.

Fujifilm: We would like to get to know you better. You are Application Specialist for Radiography for Fujifilm in Germany. Can you describe your role?
Anika Sand: My job is to look after our customers immediately after installation of our Medical Systems on site. I do the briefings with the operating staff, set up the software according to the customer’s wishes and needs. Also, I change the image processing in cooperation with the doctors, if this is desired. At Fujifilm, we work as one team, so I accompany demos to support my sales colleagues, too.

Fujifilm: What motivates you to go to work every day?
Anika Sand: I have been working for Fujifilm for almost 7 years now. Previously, I had worked as an MTA in a radiology practice and was looking for a new challenge. At Fujifilm, I never have the feeling of “stopping” due to our extensive product portfolio and the constant new developments. I look after our digital X-ray systems, mobile and portable radiography solutions, the field of mammography and our CT. Naturally, during COVID-19 we have experienced a shift in demand, especially of our mobile X-ray devices. So, the customers I look after are mixed. This can range from a radiological, gynecological or surgical practice to a university clinic. It can be very enriching to work with customers and being able to show the latest technology to them.

Fujifilm: How do you support the hospitals, doctors and nurses in the current situation?
Anika Sand: During this time, our workload has increased because appointments on site must be carefully planned and prepared. Overnight stays in hotels have also become more difficult, since the rules for protection must also be observed there. My actual job I do the same way as before. Only the “how” has changed – and it has changed a lot. The support is not much different either. Certainly you need to do certain things by phone or online, but working directly with customers usually would be the most efficient way of working – interaction is easier and more direct, you can explain and show face-to-face. I still can, and need to, go to the clinics for my work. I am responsible for radiology operation working smoothly on our devices, regardless of whether it is about the operation or the setting of the images.

“I have hoped from the start that we as society overcome this crisis and everyone can quickly get back to “normal” while learning from this experience.”


Fujifilm: What has changed on site – in hospitals and doctor’s practices – for you?
Anika Sand: I always have a facemask or face covering with me. I also bring disinfectant with me, but it is available at the customer’s sites in all departments. Even before COVID-19, the entrances to the clinics were equipped with disinfectant dispensers. It is good to experience well-managed crisis management in hospitals with all German clinics that I have worked with being well prepared. However, the uncertainty about what the future holds is there. In the meantime, however, the clinics are back in relatively normal operation, which until recently had been severely shut down. I feel safe working at home and at hospital appointments. And for sure, working with a facemask is necessary and can be lifesaving, but is a bit difficult because the air underneath gets quite thin after a lot of talking. A “regular” workday therefore can get quite exhausting.

Fujifilm: What has changed at home and at work?
Anika Sand: Not that much has changed for me. I would normally work at home. So, this is nothing new for my partner and me. At work the situation is very different though. Personal meetings and training cannot take place. Nevertheless, the team has worked out how to exchange information in the home office via regular web meetings to keep everything going as best as possible.

Fujifilm: What have you learned during your recent work in the Coronavirus pandemic?
Anika Sand: My job includes a lot of travelling; I often need to be on site with the doctors and nurses to support them as best as possible. Therefore, possibilities of travelling and overnight stays are heavily necessary to do my job. At the beginning the problem was that many hotels and all restaurants had to close and it was difficult to find something to stay overnight let alone find something to eat after a whole day of work. It was good to experience that problems can be seen as challenges and big and small ones can often be solved according to rules and thinking creatively at the same time. For example, a colleague and I simply had a socially distanced picnic at our hotel one evening. I have hoped from the start that we as society overcome this crisis and everyone can quickly get back to “normal” while learning from this experience.

To download the interview in our Whitepaper format (pdf) please have a look at our AT YOUR SERVICE homepage here.

Filed under Healthcare Interviews

AT YOUR SERVICE – Back then and today

by Fujifilm EMEA September 26, 2020 Comments0
Fujifilm: At your service Video

– We are at your service. During the current Coronavirus pandemic, our technicians and application specialists are working on the front line alongside healthcare professionals to make sure patients can be diagnosed and treated. Today, Fujifilm looks back at decades of research and development to make this – today’s support – possible. –

Fujifilm has the possibility to support healthcare workers, doctors and patients during the current coronavirus crisis. Our colleagues have adapted to the new situation quickly to enable service and support for those who need it most during the pandemic. This approach might seem new to a few of our readers, but is actually more than 80 years old to us as the Fujifilm family. 

Fujifilm was founded in 1934, back then named Fuji Photo Film Co. Lt., and only two years later, we already launched our first x-ray films. They have been our start in a long history of caring for people’s health. Have a look at this video for a few Fujifilm milestones in the healthcare field: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6NIOsUXFRE&feature=youtu.be

Due to the novel coronavirus emergency and the character of the COVID-19 disease, affecting the human lung especially heavily, x-ray is in focus in 2020. – Sadly, not primarily for the 125 year anniversary of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen’s discovery of x-rays, but due to a critical new disease putting the world into crisis mode and people’s health at great risk. 

Our decades of research, development, and pursuing strategic cooperations, have now put us in a position to offer support to the healthcare sector across the entire spectrum of patient care, ranging from prevention to diagnostics and therapy solutions. 

Now, digitisation is driving us to create value from innovation; growing alongside the needs of the hospitals and doctors caring for you, we have been working in the field of medical IT and medical AI. We are grateful this approach has made it possible lately to support European hospitals, like the ASST Vimercate Hospital in Italy, to efficiently set up a system to assist healthcare professionals to manage the large number of COVID patients. 

Please visit our TAKE AWAY LIBRARY and check out Number 17 REiLI USER’S VOICE or read our latest article on ASST Vimercate Hospital to learn more about how REiLI can support hospitals in times of COVID-19.

We have always learned and evolved, enabling our technology and our colleagues to be at your service. Growing, to serve the health of society – back then, today and in the future.

Filed under Be Inspired Blog Healthcare Interviews

Supporting healthcare workers with instax

by Fujifilm EMEA June 6, 2020 Comments0
Video

Across Europe, our teams have been donating instax cameras and film so that doctors and nurses working on the #Coronavirus can harness the power of instant photography to help share their friendly faces from behind their PPE.

Hiromoto Matsushima, Senior Vice President Photo Imaging, FUJIFILM Europe GmbH commented:

“Donating instax cameras and film is just a small way in which Fujifilm is able to help – but to both healthcare workers and patients, we’ve been told that by being able to easily show the friendly face behind the PPE, it can help bring comfort and understanding in the most difficult of situations.”

The instax products donated so far have been prioritized to healthcare teams working in intensive care units and critical care on the Coronavirus frontline. To date, approximately 120 instax cameras and 7,500 instax prints have been sent to hospitals in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Russia, France and Denmark.

Each Fujifilm business in Europe has a limited number of these packs available and healthcare teams on the frontline with should contact their local Fujifilm Corporate Communications representative.

Filed under Blog Healthcare

AT YOUR SERVICE – Francesco Galvani

by Fujifilm EMEA May 26, 2020 Comments0

Francesco Galvani, Medical Equipments Application Engineer, servicing hospitals in north Italy, tells his experience and feelings during the pandemic.

– We are at your service. During the current healthcare crisis our technicians are working on the front lines alongside healthcare professionals to make sure patients can be diagnosed and treated. These are their stories. This series will be updated weekly. –

We are in the field every day, in contact with operators and often with patients. We are completely aware of being at risk of infection, something we think about every time we go to a hospital to carry out our tasks. Sometimes, though it is rare, we hear of a possible case of Meningitis or THX, or another disease.

Today’s risk is COVID-19. Right now, COVID-19 is the biggest threat to us all, and we face the possibility of being infected, even if not by direct contact, daily.

Of course, we follow relevant safety procedures, such as wearing masks, gloves and gowns, but only now have these “normal” procedures become fundamental. We are more careful when following these procedures in order to protect ourselves and our safety.

In some situations, such as in Alessandria where the hospital has been entirely dedicated to the Coronavirus emergency, it is easier to implement safety and security measures. The main entrance is closed; the hospital is accessible only through a secondary door. There, they asked me to identify myself. I was on the approved entry list, yet they continued to test my temperature and, as an additional measure, there was someone waiting to “escort” me to a room they had ready and prepared, ensuring that I could educate the operators safely.

When visiting a larger hospital, like Policlinico or San Raffaele, unfortunately you cannot control access across all visitors in the same way. It is not possible to have a designated escort for everyone who enters and leaves the hospital. In these larger hospitals, there are not only patients infected with COVID-19 – there are other patients there, too, with an already weakened immune system. They are the first ones we must protect; they are in the hospital to receive lifesaving treatment, not to become more unwell.

When talking with others, such as operators, doctors and health management, anxiety can begin to overwhelm you. You see the tiredness of those working 10-12 hour shifts each day, and you feel their tension; tension that stays with you even when you are home where your family is waiting for you. They are the first ones you, personally, need to protect, and this worry and way of thinking will not simply disappear on July 30 when the national emergency ends. We must protect them every day, all year round, because the risk of COVID-19 will remain, even though it will be less prominent than it is today.

On February 22, I read a headline that made the virus very real for me: “First case in Milan: 78-year-old hospitalised at San Raffaele”. I had been at that hospital just a few days before, and I had been in several departments. Of course, I could very well not have come into contact with this specific patient, but the 50/50 possibility that I could have was what I thought about the most.

As a first step, I immediately tried to understand what I needed to do. I tried to contact the emergency services at 112, who were in total chaos. In the end, I managed to speak with my family doctor. Nobody knew what to do, nobody knew anything, we were unprepared… and it was only the beginning.

Filed under Healthcare Interviews

AT YOUR SERVICE – Johann CORDIER

by Fujifilm EMEA May 14, 2020 Comments0

“The testimony of Johann CORDIER, Application Engineer at Fujifilm Medical France.”

— We are at your service. During the current healthcare crisis our technicians are working on the front lines alongside healthcare professionals to make sure patients can be diagnosed and treated. These are their stories. This series will be updated weekly. —

We live in a very troubled and difficult time. Difficult for everyone, but especially for all the actors who fight every day, or for people with a loved one reached by the virus!


For my part, a lot of questions. Being the father of four children, I asked myself the question: “what should I do?” I am in a risky zone, people in the neighbourhood are affected. And then one answer comes to me: my role is to help people, so I take all the usual precautions and I will help the heroes of the front, because, yes, it is a war that we are living…


My latest user training at the Nouvel Hôpital Civil de Strasbourg and Hautepierre hospital left a strong impression on me.


We delivered a radiology mobile and a Flex system, including a Nano, which is now reserved for screening patients with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19 and signs (dyspnea, desaturation …) necessiting hospital charge.


When I arrived on site, I was struck by the new organisation set up by the NHC in Strasbourg. The centre has been transformed. The hospital is now sectorised, with an area entirely dedicated to the care of the Covid-19 which currently includes two hundred reanimation beds.


Personally, I did not enter this sector because training on new devices is carried out outside the Covid-19 area, in a standardised space.


After the training, the Nano we worked on left for 100% use in the Covid area. The radio manipulators (technicians) who use it only access this area after following a strict procedure, in an outfit worthy of an operating room: cleaning of the hands with soap and water, then protection with a mask, over-blouses and a protective apron, over-shoes, a charlotte and gloves. Measures which take time, but which are essential for their protection and that of those around them.


The Grand-Est region, my region, was heavily impacted by Covid-19. Beyond the number of people affected by the virus, the human impact, we see that private-public relations have gone from competition to mutual aid. Some private groups have made equipment available to public hospitals, something that has never been seen before.


For my part, I am happy to participate in this fight thanks to my training for users of our equipment, the Nano mobile or the FDR Go and associated systems.


I have a strong thought for these heroes who, despite their fatigue and the risk, remain united and combative, with the sole idea of participating in mutual assistance in order to stem this horror.


I still remain worried about the teams that I leave ready to go to the front once the training is over. I think of them all the time and wish to express them all my admiration and support.

Filed under Healthcare Interviews