In the smartphone era, we tend to think of pagers are relics, as outdated as “Beepers”, a rap song from their heyday in the 80s. In fact, they’re still used in hospitals throughout America, at a time when even drug dealers have abandoned them. Two emergency room (ER) doctors in a busy San Francisco hospital …
Why pagers are ancient relics – but still alive in the hospital Read More »
If you’re in your local pharmacy, looking for overpriced razor blades for example, it’s difficult to avoid them: a multitude of herbal and homeopathic remedies, naturopathic, ayurvedic and traditional medicines, pills and potions promising help with every possible health problem – fatigue, insomnia, impotence, pain, indigestion, inflammation, depression, fever, low immunity, you name it. What …
Healthcare suffers from a “Know-Do Gap”(1). As knowledge expands, the capacity to implement it lags, and the gap therefore widens. To make things worse, the gap between what’s already known, and the arrival of new knowledge to be learned, is growing too. Let’s call this the Knowledge Gap. Closing the Knowledge Gap requires access to …
One of the main concerns with Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare is the potential for racial and gender bias. This happens because AI-based algorithms are built on data that mirror the unequal societies in which we live. But algorithms are only tools. Depending on how they are made and used, they can introduce problematic bias …
Algorithms, artificial intelligence and bias in healthcare – problem or opportunity? Read More »
A Heavyweight Problem The world faces a growing epidemic of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and dementia, a complicated web of interconnected health issues that drastically reduce quality and length of life. Metabolic syndrome, the combination of high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, excess body fat, and abnormal lipid profile affects approximately 25% of the global …
As we celebrate our 2023 World Cup triumph, spare a thought for the place kickers who came under intense scrutiny – some were sidelined and others failed, while our own were heroes. Conversion Disorder (CD) is a psychological condition diagnosed when someone has physical or sensory symptoms, like they have a brain condition, but without physical …
Conversion disorder and the plight of rugby place kickers Read More »
The generative AI phenomenon has spawned a multitude of newsletters, websites and podcasts that promise insights, news, tips, and techniques for understanding and using generative AI as the field moves frenetically forward. A colleague recommended AI Breakdown so I searched and scrolled through the listings on my podcast app (Overcast – https://overcast.fm – free, easy to use, …
In a letter to colleagues this week, the Chief Medical Officer at a hospital in Cleveland with which I’m affiliated shared diabetes-related information resources and stated that the “most common opportunity for improvements” is standardizing care. Calls for standardisation in healthcare often lack specificity and have an almost magical, “wishful thinking” quality. Why is it needed? …
Standardising or standardizing – the most important opportunity for improvement? Read More »
A number of electronic medical record systems have been adopted in the South African private practice setting, but handwritten notes are still common, and probably the norm. The medicolegal risks created by the frequent illegibility and incompleteness of these notes is often reported by malpractice insurers yet persists. Ambient Clinical Intelligence is the term for Artificial Intelligence …
“Hey Siri, write my notes” – can SA leapfrog from paper to electronic medical records? Read More »
In England, two and a half years into the global pandemic, a third of patients hospitalised with Covid acquire it in the hospital. What’s going on?! Hospital-acquired Covid in England – updated 20th October 2022 – in 28 days, 11,234 of 30,439 people in hospital with Covid probably or definitely caught it there (36.9%). The variation …
Hospital-acquired Covid-19. The HAI we ignore, but can fix, by taking a CAB Read More »
