Your morning summary of digital health news, information and events to know if you want to be βin the knowβ.
π News
π€ Digital transformation company YEAR has supported the charity Facial Palsy UK (FPUK) with the implementation of Microsoft's Copilot service. Microsoft's AI program will help patients and healthcare professionals find accurate and relevant information on the association's website. Founded in 2012, FPUK is the leading charity providing support and advice to people with facial paralysis, a condition resulting in temporary or permanent damage, or absence or impairment of the facial nerve. Facial paralysis can be the result of more than 60 different causes, including disease and stroke.
π Local authorities and healthcare providers can now access a business continuity plan audit tool which aims to examine the extent to which cybersecurity and data protection issues are addressed as part of a business continuity plan. This will help healthcare providers and local authorities understand how assured they should feel about the level of planning in place to minimize the impact of a data breach or cyber attack. The tool was developed by Buckinghamshire Council who identified the need to check the effectiveness of business continuity plans to help care providers minimize the impact of a data breach or cyberattack. Healthcare providers are also expected to use the Security and Data Protection Toolkit at least once a year to review and improve their data security arrangements.
π Recently published in Nature, results from an analysis of the multicenter observational WATCH-PD study demonstrated that digital composite measures of upper and lower extremity bradykinesia were more sensitive to 1-year longitudinal progression of early Parkinson's disease (PD) compared to traditional measurement approaches. These findings suggest the potential of digital health technologies to improve susceptibility to disease progression and could provide the basis for treatment development tools in clinical research.
π In a Leicester study on While AI can be used to predict whether a person is at risk for a fatal heart rhythm, an AI tool correctly identified the condition 80% of the time. The results of the study were published in the European Heart Journal β Digital Health. The tool examined Holter electrocardiograms (ECGs) of 270 adults taken during their normal daily routine at home. These adults underwent Holter ECGs as part of their NHS care between 2014 and 2022. The results for these patients were known, and 159 had unfortunately suffered fatal ventricular arrhythmias, a disorder of the heart rhythm originating from the lower chambers (ventricles ), on average 1.6 years after the ECG. The AI ββtool, VA-ResNet-50, was used to retrospectively examine the patient's “normal” heart rhythms to see if their heart was capable of life-threatening arrhythmias.
π How we write our social media posts could reveal if we are depressed or anxious. But search methods for finding signs of depression in text don't work with all racial groups, according to a new report funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study is part of a agency efforts to eliminate health misinformation among populations that experience higher averages of preventable illnesses. Researchers analyzed 868 Facebook posts from people aged 18 to 72 with mild depression. Three quarters of the positions were held by women. Researchers found that existing models of detecting depression from texts performed poorly for black participants. This remained true even when the algorithms were trained exclusively on the language of Black participants.
βDid you know?
A new Elsevier study conducted in collaboration with Emirates Health Services has confirmed the positive impact of clinical decision support systems (CDS) in a real-world clinical environment. Results demonstrated increased efficiency, reduced variability of care, and better patient outcomes.
The main conclusions of the study entitled, βThe Power of Evidence Applied at the Point of Care: Using Evidence-Based Order Sets and Care Plans to Support Clinical Decision Making,β include:
- Improved efficiency: The analysis estimated that approximately 894 hours of physician time could potentially be saved if all physicians used order sets when admitting patients.
- Alignment with Joint Commission (JCI) international standards: Implementation of evidence-based care plans has ensured that 90.9% of patients receive a care plan within 24 hours of admission, in accordance with one of the JCI standards.
- Improved standardization of care: Staff expressed a high level of satisfaction and confidence in evidence-based solutions. These tools have enabled healthcare professionals to adopt a safety checklist approach, ensuring consistent care for all patients.
π What we read
GE Health β Mastering the Molecular: Precision Care is the Future of Healthcare by Taha Kass-Hout, Chief Technology Officer at GE HealthCare
π¨ This week's events
April 3-4, London Business School β LBS Healthcare Conference 2024