The world’s biggest medical trade fair MEDICA and the leading international supplier trade fair COMPAMED, took place in Düsseldorf from 14 to 17 November 2016.
Specialists from all sectors of the health industry enjoyed exciting topics and it was noticeable that, above all, the business relationships between providers and clients have fundamentally changed. Pure product orientation is a thing of the past. Medical technology companies negotiate systems partnerships with hospitals and medical facilities that are designed for the long term within the scope of comprehensive process optimisation.
Connected and mobile – digitisation, the word on everyone’s lips
One subject that currently affects almost all exhibitors and visitors equally, and which was also on everyone’s lips in the conference halls, is the rapidly advancing digitisation of the healthcare industry, which aims to connect the actors in the treatment process. Hans-Peter Bursig, chair of the ZVEI Electromedical Technology area of competence, sees a fundamental requirement for personalised patient-centred care within this and simultaneously the optimal response to the demographic change and the demands it places upon the healthcare system: “As patients use digital care solutions such as telemonitoring and medical apps, patient-centred healthcare can become a continual process,” he said. “Now, the quality of treatment for chronic illnesses, which increase in onset with age, is improving vastly.”
Diverse conference programme proves to be an expert magnet
The essential market trends were also expanded upon with the content of MEDICA’s accompanying conference and convention programme, which were oriented to target groups.
‘Joints and joint replacement’ was this year’s main theme at the MEDICA Physio Conference, to give one example. In highly attended lectures, the extent to which physiotherapy, sports or spiral dynamic movement and therapy offer effective therapeutic strategies was explored for those who wish to optimise the condition of their joints, including artificial joints. Other conferences which should be mentioned include the international military and disaster medical conference DiMiMED as well as the MEDICA Medicins Sports and Conference. At this conference, specifically created for specialists from the sport and preventative medicine sectors, general possibilities for increasing physical and mental performance were discussed, as well as effective implementation of wearables for monitoring vital signs and injury prevention, to give two examples.
The 39th German Hospital Conference offered a multitude of health politics and practice-oriented sessions as part of this year’s general theme of ‘Shaping the future’, serving as a significant communication platform for clinical management. The diverse content ranged from quality requirements, hospital planning and clinical IT, to central challenges for investment financing.
The next MEDICA + COMPAMED will be held in Düsseldorf from 13 to 16 November 2017. For more information, visit www.medica.de and www.compamed.de.
