Systems, methods and apparatus are disclosed for properly using and locating object retention wands via the use of at least one sensor located on or in the wand body for determining when the wand is capable of properly scanning a target area. In one form, a proximity sensor is used. In another form a motion sensor is used. In still other forms, both a proximity sensor and motion sensor are used. In some forms, the wand system further includes an indicator for indicating whether the wand is within proper read range, speed and/or orientation of a target area so as to confirm proper use of the wand to locate retained objects before concluding a procedure. In other forms one or more of a user interface, scanner and network interface may also be used with the system. Further systems, methods and apparatus are also disclosed herein.

A surgical robotic testing unit for testing a surgical robotic system, the surgical robotic system comprising a first subsystem configured to generate a first signal having a first characteristic behaviour and a second subsystem configured to receive the first signal and to respond to the received first signal, the testing unit being configured to: emulate the first subsystem by: generating an emulated signal representative of the first signal of the first subsystem, the emulated signal having an emulated behaviour that exceeds a boundary of the first characteristic behaviour of the first signal, such that the testing unit is operable to test the second subsystem beyond the capability of the first subsystem; transmitting the generated emulated signal for receiving at the second subsystem; and receiving a response signal from the second subsystem indicative of the response of the second subsystem to the emulated signal; analyse the received response signal; and determine a state of the second subsystem based on the analysis.

The present invention is directed to a miniaturized biosensor and nanotechnology which is embedded in a variety of medical devices which can be used for real-time device location tracking and analysis, for the purpose of optimizing device positioning both at the time of initial placement and throughout its clinical use (i.e., device continuum). The continuously acquired device-specific standardized data is then transmitted through wireless communication networks to provide continuous feedback and alerts to authorized clinical providers as to device positioning, clinical performance, and presence of pathology.

Methods, devices and a system for disease management are provided that employ diagnostic testing devices (e.g., blood glucose meters) and medication delivery devices (e.g., insulin delivery devices) for providing data to a repository in real-time and automatically. Repository data can be analyzed to determine such information as actual test strip use, patient health parameters to outside prescribed ranges, testing and medication delivery compliance, patient profiles or stakeholders to receive promotional items or incentives, and so on. Connected meters and medication delivery devices and repository data analysis are also employed to associate a diagnostic test to a mealtime based on timing of a therapeutic intervention performed by an individual.

Example implants, systems and methods using sensors for orthopedic surgical assessment and/or planning are described herein. An example system can include a wearable sensor device for pre-operative use by a patient before an orthopedic surgery to generate pre-operative sensor data. The system can also include an implantable sensor device (e.g., a bone implant) to generate and aggregate post-operative sensor data associated with the patient after the surgery. The system can retrieve the pre-operative sensor data and the post-operative sensor data and predict, analyze or assess an outcome of the surgery.

The present disclosure refers to a method for operating a system, the system comprising a medical device (1), having at least one of a sensor device for sensing medical data and a medication delivery device for delivering medication, a portable electronic consumer device (2), an intermediate device (3) provided with a first communication protocol for data communication with the portable electronic consumer device (2) and a second communication protocol for data communication with the medical device (1), and a control module (6) provided in the intermediate device (3), the method comprising, in the control module (6), receiving control data from the portable electronic consumer device (2) by a receiving functionality provided in the control module (6), the control data being configured for controlling operation of the medical device (1), determining whether the control data can be confirmed by a confirmation functionality provided in the control module (6), and if the control data are confirmed, transmitting the control data to the medical device (1) by a transmission functionality provided in the control module (6). Further, a system is provided.

A surgical instrument may have multiple operating modes. An instrument operation mode may be selected from multiple operation modes, which may be preconfigured, dynamically updated, semi-dynamically updated, periodically updated, or preset. Multi-modal instrument operation may control the availability, access, level of use, level of interaction and/or support for one or more capabilities available through an instrument. A multi-modal surgical instrument may be fully operational in multiple modes of operation while varying one or more capabilities based on a mode of operation, such as one or more of sensors, communications, user-instrument interaction, displays, data storage, data access, data aggregation, data analytics, surgical support, feedback, surgical recommendations, etc. An instrument may be configured to determine an operation mode based on one or more instrument operation control parameters, such as system capabilities, system capacity parameters, system condition parameters, system authorization parameters, and/or external control parameters.

A surgical robotic system includes: a control tower including a first controller configured to detect a first error associated with the control tower and having a first error handler configured to generate a first error signal based on the first error. The system includes a console coupled to the control tower and including a display, a user input device configured to generate user input, and a mobile cart coupled to the control tower and having a second controller configured to detect a second error associated with the mobile cart and a second error handler configured to generate a second error signal based on the second error. The system includes a robotic arm disposed on the mobile cart and including: a surgical instrument configured to treat tissue and actuatable in response to the user input; and a third controller configured to detect a third error associated with the surgical robotic arm and having a third error handler configured to generate a third error signal based on the third error.

The present invention provides a device for monitoring a plurality of physiological characteristics of a patient. The present invention also relates to methods and systems for monitoring a plurality of physiological characteristics of a patient employing said device. The present invention further provides methods and systems wherein multiple devices are used for monitoring a plurality of physiological characteristics of patients.

A method for characterizing the state of an alcohol sensor comprising prompting an individual to provide a biological sample at a first time point; generating an alcohol signal upon reception of the biological sample from the individual; an environmental metric associated with the fuel-cell alcohol sensing device at a second time point contemporaneous with the first time point; determining a degeneration parameter of the fuel-cell alcohol sensing device; extracting a correction factor upon implementing a rule with the environmental metric and the degeneration parameter; and at the remote computing system, generating a notification based upon the correction factor exceeding a threshold correction factor.