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Researchers can customize and rebrand the agency’s MyStudies App for their own clinical trials or observational studies.

With IT deployments broadening and deepening worldwide, a new report assesses unique preferences in Canada, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and AsiaPac countries.

PwC's research is the latest evidence to suggest that now is the time to start blockchain projects or risk falling behind competitors that transform their operations with distributed digital ledger technology.

If you think the digitisation of nursing is just about nurses filling out scores on a mobile device, it’s time to think again because artificial intelligence (AI) could be about to revolutionise the way nurses do their jobs. Recent digital developments include bottles which automatically issue reminders to drink, diapers that sound an alert when wet and sensor-equipped stoma pouches.   Heiko Mania, NursIT CEO, and a former nurse, believes AI will change the focus of nursing care: “Modern nursing expert software not only streamlines nursing documentation, it will automate it using AI, sensors and smart nursing aids. At the same time, professional nursing care will change from reactive to predictive, preventive nursing care.” Mania said they had developed a nursing care expert system, CareIT Pro, which supports automation in nursing. He explained that smart algorithms and AI could reduce the need for information to be entered and could link content, so that further workflows and tasks could be automatically initiated at the right time. He added that the software automatically recognised patterns, evaluated the planned nursing goals and recommended necessary adaptations. Webinar: AI: Evaluating Opportunities for Healthcare Providers He said sensors, wearables and smart devices were also enabling increased automation: “Intelligent tools automatically deliver data on the patient to the nursing expert software and thus allow automated documentation. Alarms, nursing tasks and digital processes can be generated and started independently. Nursing staff not only receive digital to-do lists, but can also see the current status and quality of the nursing processes at all times and react to them at an early stage. An intelligent drinking cup can automatically fill the drinking protocols and remind the patient to drink regularly or the stoma pouch sensor generates an automatic care task for changing the bag when it is almost full. We are currently developing an intelligent nursing mattress with a partner company that can detect not only the patient’s movement, breathing, position, pressure and sleep, but also incontinence.”  Improved quality of care and patient safety If the Internet of Things (IoT) is set to transform nursing, it is also starting to change the way nursing is taught. Widener University in Pennsylvania has introduced a range of simulation training from programming intravenous pumps and pumps for medication to updating electronic health records.  It also runs disaster simulation training as Widener, in line with other nursing schools, has recognised the need to prepare nurses for such incidents in the wake of 9/11. Nancy Laplante, Associate Professor of Nursing at Widener University, has recently published a paper arguing the case for introducing IoT in disaster training. Laplante believes this would highlight the application of these technologies in a meaningful way and enhance the experience for nursing students. She would like to teach the students to use mobile apps to track patients, triage them and track them to different hospitals, rather than using, for example, old-school paper-tagging of victims.    She said that downloading simple drawings, like Rich Pictures and Use Case Diagrams, which show all the participants in the disaster scene at a glance, can also improve understanding: “We were looking at what we call this rich picture for disaster scenarios and it was one way to help visualise all the interactions that would occur.  What we wanted to do was to give students an understanding of how complex communication is in a mass casualty disaster scenario. It is not just nurses talking to patients; they are going to have to deal with fire fighters, police officers, bystanders and health providers that are off site.”  Laplante said students had to get to grips with new technology as it was a growth area. She said that nursing students had to understand, embrace and help develop new solutions as they could transform their practice. However, she pointed out that while IT was an important aspect of nursing, it could never take the place of nurses: “I don’t personally believe that nurses can ever be replaced because you always need that human touch. My hope and my feeling for technology is that it can help enhance our care.”  It is likely that technology will fundamentally change nursing over the coming years and, provided it is used correctly, it seems it really could improve the quality of care and lead to increased patient safety.   .jumbotron{ background-image: url("http://www.healthcareitnews.com/sites/default/files/u2556/AIJumbotron.jpg"); background-size: cover; color: white; } .jumbotron h2{ color: white; } Focus on Artificial Intelligence In November, we take a deep dive into AI and machine learning.

Patients receive needed interventions quicker, resulting in better outcomes and higher levels of satisfaction.

The HIMSS AsiaPac 18 Conference in Brisbane officially started today with an opening plenary, Leadership Voices: Healthcare Anytime, Anywhere featuring five healthcare leaders and experts with experience from different parts of the globe. Dr Charles Alessi, Chief Clinical Officer, HIMSS, the moderator of the panel started with an opening question to the panelists – what are the drivers and challenges of healthcare? Dr Manish Kohli, Senior VP and Chief Medical Information Office (CMIO), Aurora Healthcare and Chair, Global Board of Directors, HIMSS said that from his experience in the US and bringing a Cleveland Clinic to Abu Dhabi, healthcare systems around the world are struggling with the same issues – providing quality care, ensuring accessibility to care, reducing costs of care, enhancing the clinician experience as well as the patient experience. “Another challenge in healthcare that is consistent across the globe, specifically in Western countries, India and China with large populations is that of the silver tsunami – an ageing population. They bring with them the wonderful benefit of extended lives but this also means that they are living with diseases longer,” said Hal Wolf, President & CEO, HIMSS, USA. He added that a tremendous amount of healthcare resources is being consumed and about seven to ten percent of the population is consuming 80 percent of the resources, and with it comes funding challenges: “We not have a clear pathway to be able to sustain the encounter-based (healthcare) paradigm that we have grown up with. We will not be able to build enough hospitals fast enough.” There is also the issue of a 7.2 million global workforce gap for the healthcare industry, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). On a more positive note, Hal said that currently the healthcare industry has access to technological tools like never before but of course the healthcare information must be available first – the information can be used to provide better health outcomes but this needs to be balanced with privacy concerns in place. CEO and CIO of eHealth Queensland, Australia, Dr Richard Ashby, was convinced and optimistic of the objective benefits brought about by rolling out digital health initiatives in Queensland. Seven to eight percent of hospital costs around the world in first world countries are caused by adverse events that are largely predictable and preventable. “We are seeing the reduction of these preventable adverse events through the digitisation of healthcare, streaming data and giving clinicians data about what they have done and what they have not done. For instance, digitisation was reducing the length of hospital stays by six to nine percent. Translate that across Queensland and that is one less 700-bed hospital that we have to build,” said Dr Ashby. However, in the context of Australia, he said that a real challenge is to address and provide for the health of the rural and indigenous communities, which are 600 or 700kms away from the urban areas. This is where mobile health initiatives such apps to help with eating disorders can be useful to address some of these challenges, for instance. Sharing examples of consumer-direct health apps in China, Dr Jenny Shao, Health Information System Director, United Family Healthcare (UFH), Chair, HIMSS Asia Pacific Governing Council said that the whole healthcare industry in China is very much driven by the central government, so every reform and launch of a new platform or technology is usually directed by the government. One of these examples is that a person living in an urban city in China can easily grab his/her phone with Internet access, open up an app and talk to the phone about his/her medical condition. The person will be guided to a list of doctors, he/she can pick one from the list, the physician’s face will appear on the screen and the consultation begins! If a prescription is needed after the consultation, the medication will get delivered to the person’s doorstep within half an hour or an hour, depending on traffic conditions. This is happening right now in China and no longer a dream, truly working towards the conference theme of “Healthcare Anytime, Anywhere”. Another platform that was launched by the government in Shenzhen city, in the Southern part of Guangdong, requires residents to sign up with their GPs online. As long as the resident signs up, he/she will have a dedicated GP who will provide services to him/her, such as medical check-ups and referrals. The GPs will even check for alerts from the wearable devices of the resident. A dedicated physician will provide the resident with education on chronic diseases as well as helping him/her with the self-management of his/her health. This is currently in use in China for both younger tech-savvy consumers and also for older people to help them manage their chronic health conditions. Tim Kelsey, Chief Executive, CEO, Australian Digital Health Agency, shared his perspective on the role of the consumer in healthcare as Dr Alessi mentioned how consumers are ‘pulling’ healthcare to themselves. “Governments in other parts of the world and certainly Australia are tapping into the energy source of the community and the person, in order to meet the sustainability challenge of a paternalistic health service, they need people to take more control of their healthcare and well-being”, Tim said. He sees that in Australia that there is a very determined political commitment to un-tap that asset to get the community engaged in healthcare. Additionally, in terms of healthcare, the different administrations are trying to build on each other’s success with lots of collaboration, which is evident in the recently launched National Digital Health strategy in July this year. As a light-hearted wrap up to the panel, Dr Alessi asked each of the five panelists what they would want to receive in a box for Christmas. Dr Shao wanted powerful clinical decision support tools for all physicians and healthcare providers. Dr Ashby wished for a big hard drive with hyper-advanced artificial intelligence that will aid in the prediction of demise and also help patients in hospital. “In terms of healthcare, what I would really to receive in a package is the ultimate clinical decision support, an analytic platform that really allows for the best possible personalisation per person and circumstance,” Hal shared. Dr Kohli wished for resilience for those in the healthcare industry as it is an exciting time in healthcare and health information technology, in which the current generation has a unique privilege to shape healthcare like it has never been delivered before. Tim wanted to see the evidence of benefits from digital investments in healthcare to encourage those who remain skeptical that it is the right way to go.

Ten UK health tech start-ups to receive £40,000 through KQ accelerator Ten UK start-ups working at the intersection of biomedical and data science have now been selected to take part in the £400,000, 16-week KQ (Knowledge Quarter) Labs accelerator run by the Francis Crick Institute in London, meant to speed up development and adoption of data-driven technologies addressing global health challenges. Vision Game Labs, which is creating home-monitoring and remote-diagnosis vision kits for smartphones, using gaming techniques to gather visual data and diagnose eye disease, is one of the start-ups that will receive £40,000 to validate their business proposals through the programme, which is funded by Innovate UK, before looking for further investment. “The start-ups all have the potential to make an impact on global health outcomes and will have access to unrivaled support and resources. “These ventures will help shape the future of health in a sector that is a vital part of the government’s modern Industrial Strategy,” said Chris Sawyer, Innovation Lead, Digital Health at Innovate UK. Ireland’s largest acute hospital finalises Cerner Millennium implementation Ireland’s St James’s Hospital has now completed the rollout of the Cerner EPR, with every inpatient specialty and department going live with upgraded Millennium functionality in a programme labelled “Project Oak” – referencing the move away from paper-based processes. The functionality is set to reduce duplication and allow quicker access to clinical information, with 2,400 staff members receiving more than 21,000 hours of training ahead of the implementation, according to the supplier. “We are in the early stages of the launch, but careful planning has ensured that patient care has not been disrupted significantly over the weekend,” said Dr. Gráinne Courtney, Chief Clinical Information Officer at St James’s Hospital. “The implementation of this system is set to bring a raft of benefits to patients attending the hospital as health records are available instantly to those caring for a patient. Increased efficiencies mean patients will wait less time for their diagnoses, treatments and care. Over the course of the coming months and years we anticipate this will translate into shorter wait times and hospital stays.” HITN sister publication MobiHealthNews reported last month that the European Investment Bank was backing the implementation of Ireland’s eHealth programme with a €225m loan to support the creation of a “modern patient-centred health service”, according to Health Minister Simon Harris. NHS trust goes live with Patient Administration System East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has gone live with an Allscripts Patient Administration System (PAS) in a project that involved the migration of 42 million records to the new system. The trust runs five hospitals and community clinics, providing a range of services to a local population of around 695,000 people. “Deploying a new PAS is a major undertaking, but our old system was outdated and we had to change it to move onto the next stage of our IT development," said Andy Barker, East Kent Hospitals IT Director. "The Allscripts PAS gives us the platform to move forward with an electronic patient record." East Kent Hospitals ran a joint procurement for a new PAS with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust back in 2015. Both trusts will now be deploying the Allscripts Sunrise EPR. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells went live with the Allscripts PAS in 2017. Neurology advice line for GPs saves the NHS £100,000 a year An advice line run by the Walton Centre, a specialist hospital trust, in Liverpool, enabling GPs in the north west of England to call neuro consultants for advice, reducing the need for additional appointments, is saving the NHS £100,000 a year. According to NHS England, nearly 40 per cent of 181 calls received in 2017-18 were solved by GPs, saving around £52,000. Karen Kirkham, NHS England National Clinical Advisor for Primary Care, said the NHS would be looking to scale up similar innovations, with a long-term plan expected to be published later this year. “The Walton Centre’s advice line is an example of integrated care in action, connecting GPs with hospital specialists to provide more joined up care for patients. We often find these kind of improvements also make savings that can be reinvested back into the local NHS. “In this case patients also need less time off work because they need fewer appointments and to travel less, which is also good for the environment,” Kirkham added. Twitter: @1Leontina Contact the author: lpostelnicu@himss.org

Five new AI centres will be created in London, Leeds, Oxford, Coventry and Glasgow.    

The Attorney General also banned the former business associate of Virtua Medical Group from doing business in the state for accidentally uploading 1,654 patient files to an FTP server left open to the public.

A Chinese company, working with researchers in Sichuan and Boston, says its algorithm – similar to that enabling self-driving vehicles – could be a second set of eyes for polyp detection.