[Criminal law aspects in the medical field].

The legal framework in Switzerland regarding medicine and health care is complex. Switzerland doesn't have a specific federal law on medicine or health care. Instead, numerous legal provisions apply to very different medical and health care situations.

An Immersive and Interactive VR Dataset to Elicit Emotions.

Images and videos are widely used to elicit emotions; however, their visual appeal differs from real-world experiences. With virtual reality becoming more realistic, immersive, and interactive, we envision virtual environments to elicit emotions effectively, rapidly, and with high ecological validity. This work presents the first interactive virtual reality dataset to elicit emotions.

Use of thermal imaging to measure the quality of hand hygiene.

Objectives: Hand hygiene has long been promoted as the most effective way to prevent the transmission of infection. However, due to low compliance and low quality of hand hygiene reported in previous studies, constant monitoring of hand hygiene compliance and quality among healthcare workers is crucial. This study investigated the feasibility of using a thermal camera with an RGB camera to detect hand coverage of alcohol-based formulation, thereby monitoring the quality of hand rubbing.

A System for Computational Assessment of Hand Hygiene Techniques.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a six-step hand hygiene technique. Although multiple studies have reported that this technique yields inadequate skin coverage outcomes, they have relied on manual labeling that provided low-resolution estimations of skin coverage outcomes. We have developed a computational system to precisely quantify hand hygiene outcomes and provide high-resolution skin coverage visualizations, thereby improving hygiene techniques.

Measuring Mobility and Room Occupancy in Clinical Settings: System Development and Implementation.

Background: The use of location-based data in clinical settings is often limited to real-time monitoring. In this study, we aim to develop a proximity-based localization system and show how its longitudinal deployment can provide operational insights related to staff and patients' mobility and room occupancy in clinical settings. Such a streamlined data-driven approach can help in increasing the uptime of operating rooms and more broadly provide an improved understanding of facility utilization.

HTA and its legal issues: a framework for identifying legal issues in health technology assessment.

Objectives: Legal analysis can highlight important issues that are relevant when deciding whether a medical technology should be implemented or reimbursed. Literature and studies show that even though the law is an acknowledged part of health technology assessment (HTA), legal issues are rarely considered in practice. One reason for this may be the lack of knowledge about the diversity of legal issues that are relevant for HTA.

The role of skin self-examination at the Swiss skin cancer day.

Background: The rising incidence of melanoma - Switzerland has the highest incidence in Europe - is a major public health challenge. Swiss dermatologist introduced the "Swiss Skin Cancer Day" (SSCD) in 2006, which provides skin cancer screening at no costs. The aim of the study was to describe the participating subjects and their motivation and investigate factors influencing the probability of a clinical diagnosis of skin malignancy.

[Autopsies in Switzerland, Germany and Austria: considerations about legal facts and the current situation].

Significant reasons militate for the implementation of clinical autopsies: On the part of physicians and nurses, there is quality assurance, establishment of legal certainty regarding possible accusations of medical errors and development of treatment methods. On the part of patients and their relatives, there is consolation and relief in cases of unexpected death, insight into genetic dispositions and insurance law concerns, to name only a few. However, a continuing decrease of clinical autopsies can be observed in Switzerland, Germany and Austria.

Safety of acupuncture: results of a prospective observational study with 229,230 patients and introduction of a medical information and consent form.

Background: To evaluate the safety of acupuncture in a large number of patients receiving conventional health care and, based on these results, to develop a new medical consent form for acupuncture.

Methods: The prospective observational study included patients who received acupuncture treatment for chronic osteoarthritis pain of the knee or hip, low back pain, neck pain or headache, allergic rhinitis, asthma, or dysmenorrhoea. After treatment, all patients documented adverse events associated with acupuncture (defined as adverse effects).

Legal concerns trigger prostate-specific antigen testing.

Background: In the United States, lawsuits against physicians have had an impact on their behaviour, resulting in overdiagnosis and other forms of 'defensive medicine'. Does a similar situation exist in Switzerland? Using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening as an example, we surveyed Swiss physicians and assessed the extent to which liability fears influenced their recommendation for testing.

Methods: At a continuing medical education conference we distributed a pilot-tested questionnaire to 552 participants.