The company is testing the implementation of their lighting technology alongside their medical technology in Ambient Experience suites across the world.

And luckily, the other 9 modes appear far more serene than the "Australia" theme in our lead shot. Patients, in fact, are allowed to choose their own color palette, along with accompanying sounds and video that will surround them during procedures. In fact, this media environment can be so relaxing (or simply distracting) that it was said to reduce sedation needs by 28% in one Chicago-based study.

Actually, on second thought, that pink freaks me out even more than the red. [Philips via CNET]

The entire article is 9 pages of well-reasoned scenarios involve wireless devices galore, dynamic health monitoring and remote doctor consultation. Some of the technology looks to be lifted from Star Trek, but most of the ideas could be implemented tomorrow, should someone bankroll the cash, time and necessary legislation. (Keep in mind, US healthcare won't even acknowledge devices as practical as the iPhone.)

My personal favorite idea was this Smart Mirror (and not just for the PG-level cartoon nudity). It's a touchscreen monitor that can track most vitals through your hand. But it does a lot more, from listing your recent exercises to tracking your sleep patterns to performing bi-weekly body scans to test for melanoma.

From these short, daily checks, a doctor is left with a ton of analyzable trend data (surely software could be employed to summarize trends) that's potentially more reliable than general self-reporting. The user is left with a mirror on their bathroom wall—something they had in the first place.

Very cool stuff. [Fast Company]

The three hospitals to receive an Ultimate Gameroom through Microsoft's partnership with the Children's Miracle Network are chosen by a very public popular vote. Not a random raffle, not a secret vote, but a public popular vote with results regularly updating on the CMN's website.

As I'm writing this, there is an eight-way tie for last place, with each hospital having one measly vote. The hospitals currently in the top three have a lead of several thousand votes over the rest, but that can and probably will change quickly. How will those kids feel when they miss out on the gamerooms after thinking they could win? How do the kids at the hospitals with barely any votes feel? While I'm sure that all the kids at the winning hospitals (or at least those who enjoy Xbox-based games) will be as giddy as can be, charity isn't about making 167 hospitals full of kids feel like losers in the process.

Looking at the premise of the giveaway, it's like Christmas gone oh-so-very wrong: They'll give some Children's hospitals about ten thousand dollars worth of equipment which could include several 42" Plasma TVs, a pair of Xbox consoles, some Zunes, four computers, oodles of games, and associated furniture. Microsoft is even throwing in delivery, installation, and "reasonable labor," while the hospitals cover any construction costs. Pretty fair. Except that the world is voting on where Saint Microsoft will bring Xboxes.

I truly hope this is just a one-time bad decision, especially since Microsoft is normally rather good about charities, this one included. They've helped raise $1.3 million of the incredible $3.2 billion total which the Children's Miracle Network has raised for Children's hospitals around the world. Microsoft has also contributed an Xbox kiosk to each of the 170 hospitals in the Network and been an all-around great partner to the CMN. It's truly sad that they've chucked away any milligram of character with the Ultimate Gameroom Giveaway. This vile competition is on the level of tearing a teddy bear out of a child's arms and then ripping it apart into a pile of fuzzy remains on the spot.

It's almost sad the mess probably started with good intentions. Perhaps someone truly struggled to find a way to cajole his or her boss into approving giving away $30,000 in equipment. Maybe turning it into a marketing scheme was the only way to cover or justify the expense, but if that's the case then I'm even more disappointed. Microsoft has spent hundreds of millions on individual ad campaigns, some of which barely made sense and were ridiculed, while this act of charity had the potential for a lot of positive publicity. And even if Microsoft went as far as outfitting each of the 170 hospitals with the same Ultimate Gameroom, it would've cost them a measly $1.7 million total. That's a lot to you and I, but to Microsoft that's .6%, point freakin' six percent, of the cost of a single ad campaign.

That perspective aside, no one is demanding that Microsoft give away $1.7 million. Charity is charity, and it is wonderful that they're giving as much as they are. But they're toying with the hopes of children at 170 hospitals and frankly, I would really love to find whoever decided on this messed up vote-based competition approach and tear any Birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter, Summer Solstice, and un-freakin'-Birthday gift right out of his or her cruel, little claws. If you're going to contribute to a charity, especially a children's charity, you shouldn't turn it into a game with winners and losers.

Even without spending more than $30,000, this situation could've been handled differently. I understand that some sort of public announcement is needed in order to justify the spending, so I don't really expect Microsoft to just quietly pick a few hospitals for these donations. But the money could've been used for a smaller campaign encouraging others to give. Or if someone's really stuck on having a public vote then choose the hospitals without a spectacle and keep the rankings hidden. Those kids have enough sadness in their lives and really don't need to be yanked back and forth while watching a ranking of just how much the public cares about them or their particular hospitals.

The Abridged Version for Those Strapped for Time:
I like charity. I personally donate both time and money to various causes and I encourage others to do the same. I applaud Microsoft for everything they've done in the past and continue to do. Hell, I'm even secretly a Microsoft-fangirl (but lets not go there, because this isn't about the company). What this rant is complaining about is the game-like approach taken with this particular donation.

Whether you agree or disagree with any or all of the points, or have thoughts on a better approach: The comments are here for a reason, so please let your opinions be known. If a few good ideas, a constructive discussion, or maybe a few extra donations come out of things then all the better. [Children's Miracle Network via TeamXBox]

The new polymer is a mixture of normal latex paint and bleach-like N-halamines. It's capable of wiping out even tough, antibiotic-resistant microbes—the source of 88,000 hospital-induced deaths a year according to the researchers. Plus, the paint is good for more than a year of use, can be tested through simple means and requires only a simple chlorination process to be recharged (which we assume means a touch-up coat every once in a while).

Hopefully the technology works as well as advertised and it enters mass production soon. [ACS via Lab Spaces]

The old da Vinci was alright, but the new da Vinci Si surgical system displays your intestines in 3D HD (a perspective created through a double-camera, double-display stereoscopic system) so that a surgeon can marvel at the efficiency of your GI tract and feel like those vital organs are right there.

So would you prefer a surgeon to perform your next operation, or a surgeon behind the da Vinci? We'd prefer a normal surgeon donning old school blue and red 3D glasses. [da Vinci via medgadget]

As you can see in the TechFlash interview, the Vioguard works by automatically retracting into the monitor base for a germ-killing UV bath. Obviously, this could be a matter of life and death in a hospital but, by the looks of things, the average Joe could benefit from this technology as well. [Vioguard and TechFlash]

The scientists discovered that this method of mending makes the skin less likely to tear and is much more watertight than traditional needle and thread stitches. So far, experiments on real patients have found that the wounds heal faster and with less scaring.

They're hoping that their invention will be in operating rooms around the world in a few years. [Reuters]

Better news. It comes as part of a birthing suite:

[Coroloft via Born Rich]

Information gathered by the Health Guide is then encrypted and sent to the patient's health care professional using Intel's Health Care Management Suite, which is supposedly secure enough to handle sensitive patient records.

By shifting a lot of the effort of monitoring patients with chronic health problems out of the hospital and into the home, Intel says insurance and health care companies can save money and give better, more personalized care. The Intel Health Guide is expected to be commercially available from health care providers either late 2008 or early 2009. [Crunchgear]

Mounties corporal Scott Wilson defended his colleague's grandad-bashing actions. "Whether the person is 80 or 20, we are dealing with a person who had a deadly weapon in their hand. We could not deploy our ... pepper spray, because we could potentially contaminate the entire hospital."

Lasser, a former prison guard, reckons they overdid it, claiming that, with three Mounties in the room, they could have overpowered him without using a Taser. Lasser said there were three RCMP officers in his hospital room and believes they could have easily handled him without the use of a Taser. "I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, and said to the guys, 'OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,'" he said.

"And then, bang, bang, bang, three times with the laser, and I tell you, I never want that again." That'll teach him to bring a knife to hospital, then. [CBC News via Dvorak]

Although launched yesterday in London, the device, which is about the size of a flower vase, is currently being tested in 17 veterans' hospitals over here with a view to making it available in the US.

Within an hour of switching it on, the AD can reduce bacteria levels to zero as it creates reactive hydrogen radicals, then pumps them out into the atmosphere, purging the air of bacteria. Faced with the AD, even the tough superbug MRSA is apparently toast—and that can only be a good thing. – Ad Dugdale

Superbug zapper recreates fresh air indoors [New Scientist Tech]

Symbol is supplying the PDA devices used for the service. Hospitals will be able to choose between the PPT8800 or MC50 mobile devices that will communicate with the kitchen via a wireless network. This system better allow me to order bowls upon bowls of delicious, fruity gelatin goodness—you know, the next time I happen to be hospitalized in France. – Travis Hudson

Hospital Food Ordering Goes Wireless [Medgadget]

Hospital staff in Truro who are always in touch [Via SmartMobs]

UCLA Med Center Shreds Paper Chase [Medgadget]