With, by our count, something like 65 educational sessions over 3 days, it isn’t possible for one attendee to absorb all the presentations that will be given at the AAMI conference this year. With that in mind, we’ve put together a selection of sessions, arranged by subject area, that we think will be of particular interest to 24×7 readers. Because this is only a limited selection, however, we encourage you to visit the AAMI conference page to review the entire schedule of sessions.

General Interest

At this year’s conference, there are two events of vital interest to every attendee. One is the Dwight E. Harken Memorial lecture, delivered by Alasdair Conn, MD, and Ann Prestipino of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, on A Hospital’s Response to the Boston Marathon Bombing. The session will be held in conjunction with AAMI’s Annual Award luncheon on Sunday, June 1, from 11:15 am to 12:45 pm.

Another session of broad general interest will be the annual Joint Commission Update and Discussion, presented once again by The Joint Commission’s director of engineering, George Mills. Unless you prefer to stand, you’d be well-advised to find a seat early for this always popular two-part session on Sunday, June 1, from 1 to 2:15 pm and 2:30 to 3:45 pm.

Networking and Security

Everything You Wanted to Know About Wireless But Were Afraid to Ask
Saturday, May 31, 1:45 – 3 pm

In this session, speaker Paul Sherman of Sherman Engineering LLC Healthcare Technology Consulting will lead a panel of experts in answering questions about healthcare applications of wireless technologies.

Enumerating Security Vulnerabilities in Connected Medical Devices
Sunday, June 1, 10 – 11:15 am

Cybersecurity is a hot-button topic in healthcare circles, and there are probably few experts better prepared to discuss it than Mike Ahmadi and Chris Clark of Codenomicon. In this session, they will cover how manufacturers and the FDA are discovering security vulnerabilities through the use of automated testing tools.

How Will AAMI’s New TIR57 on Medical Device Security Risk Management Impact You?
Sunday, June 1, 1 – 2:15 pm

AAMI’s new working group on medical device information security risk management will be the subject of Kevin Fu of the University of Michigan, Ken Hoyme of Adentium Labs, and other speakers. They will review how to assess security risk in the context of ISO 14971.

Information Security Management for Medical Devices
Sunday June 1, 2:30 – 3:45 pm

In this session, Scot Copeland of Scripps Health will discuss information security for medical devices and new concepts that can be applied to your management programs.

Best Practices and Strategies for Dealing with Cybersecurity Challenges
Monday, June 2, 10:30 – 11 am

To help you learn how your facility can defend against security breaches while still providing high-quality patient care, Pat Baird of Baxter Healthcare and Erin Sparnon of the ECRI Institute will lead a peer-to-peer discussion session.

 Device Interoperability

Medical Device Interoperability: Solving the Business Puzzle
Saturday, May 31, 1:45 – 3 pm

The primary obstacle to realizing medical device interoperability is the disconnect between health technology suppliers and care providers. In this session, Todd Cooper and Aaron Goldmuntz of the Center for Medical Interoperability will explain how their new organization is addressing this business-model problem.

Challenges with Sustaining a Testing Environment to Support Interoperability of Medical Devices
Saturday, May 31, 3:15 – 4:30 pm

One way to support the integration of biomedical systems is to build a robust “test environment.” Marlene Davis and Jacob Johnson of Kaiser Permanente Clinical Technology will explain how to create such a test environment and what must be done to sustain it.

Benefits of IHE PCD Standards-Based Interoperability
Sunday June 1, 8:30 – 9:45 am

In this presentation by HIMSS, John Garguilo of NIST, Jeff McGeath of Iatric Systems, and Monroe Pattillo of Practical Health Interoperability will explain why and how to acquire medical devices that support IHE-PCD standard for medical device interoperability.

Clinical Alarms Management

The Impact of Distributed Alarms Systems on Patient Safety: An Overview of the New Technical Report IEC 80001-2-5
Saturday, May 31, 1:45 – 3 pm

Speakers Oliver Christ of Prosystem AG, Dave Osborn of Philips Healthcare, and Jurgen Stettin of the University of Applied Sciences Hamburg will lead this session on the new international alarms safety standard.

Integration of Alarm Notification Systems at The Johns Hopkins Hospital
Sunday, June 1, 2:30 – 3:45 pm

Maria Cvach, Peter Doyle, and Robert Frank of The Johns Hopkins Hospital will present their facility’s approach to integrating nurse call, physiologic monitoring, wireless device, and ancillary equipment, along with alarm algorithms to optimize notification and reduce alarm fatigue.

Building a Strategy to Support Medical Device Integration and Alarm Management
Monday, June 2, 2:30 – 3:45 pm

Izabella Gieras and Tiffany Lemmen of the Huntington Hospital, Pasadena, Calif, will describe the foundations for building a successful road map for subsequent medical integration strategies—including alarm management initiatives.

HTF/HTSI Alarm Management Roundtable
Monday, June 2, 4 – 5:15 pm

Tobey Clark of the University of Vermont, Marilyn Neder Flack of AAMI, and Izabella Gieras of the Huntington Hospital will lead a dynamic discussion about The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal on alarm management and the overall problem of alarm hazards in healthcare. Topics to be covered include the typical hazards, the new Joint Commission requirements, and the challenges in meeting them.

Read 24×7‘s introduction to AAMI 2014 or review a roundup of exhibitors from 24×7′s show issue.