Patient management

From managing appointments to admittance and coordination of treatments to billing – patient management is a complex field in which everything revolves around the patient. Keep reading for the latest developments and application examples.

News • Behavioural intervention study

Want to boost bowel cancer screening response? Add a deadline

Screening for colorectal cancer has proven effective for reducing mortality, but response rates are lacking. A new study finds that putting on the pressure can provide the necessary encouragement.

News • Uncovering human prejudice

How AI can help detect and reduce bias in emergency medicine

Generative AI can detect and quantify cognitive biases of human caregivers during medical emergency situations. This way, LLMs could help reduce the impact of bias based on gender, age, or ethnicity.

Article • A hard farewell from the lead apron

Radiation protection: Were we wrong all along?

For more than a year now, patients in Austria are no longer required to wear a lead apron during radiological imaging procedures such as X-ray and CT scans. However, the new recommendation, issued by…

News • Appeal for clearer patient communication

Do CAT scans really involve cats? (and other ways children misunderstand medical jargon)

"Negative" results are good, and CAT scans are taken without felines: Medical jargon can be confusing for children, so pediatrics experts call for clearer language to avoid invoking fear.

News • Human papillomavirus infection

Cervical cancer: improved screening through HPV risk groups

Analyses of self-tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) can be used to divide HPV-positive women into three risk groups, according to a new study. This could enhance cervical cancer screening.

News • LLM-based mental health detection

AI model could help prevent suicide in hospital patients

Large language models (LLM) show promise in detecting hospital patients at risk of committing suicide. This could help warn medical staff in time while maintaining the patients' privacy.

Relief for radiographers: The Get Up holding system for back-friendly repositioning

Discover in only one minute, how the Get Up holding system sustainably assists both patients and medical staff.

News • Analytics of patient outcomes

Hospital uses AI platform to achieve ‘extreme transparency’

Karolinska University Hospital is among the most transparent hospitals worldwide. Using AI, the hospital can accurately demonstrate where lives have been saved, and harm avoided for patients.

News • Finnish approach

Epilepsy care pathway as potential model for healthcare systems

Finland introduces a new care pathway for epilepsy. This could serve to model how integrated healthcare systems can effectively manage complex conditions, the coordinators hope.

News • Do no harm

“Never words” in doctor-patient communication (and what to say instead)

“There’s nothing else we can do”, “Why did you wait so long to come?” – doctors should avoid using such phrases. A new study points out the destructive potential of “never words”.

News • Double-edged sword

Remote medical interpreting might impede healthcare communication

Remote medical interpreting saw a huge boost during the Covid-19 pandemic – but despite its benefits, the technology could also have a negative impact on healthcare communication, experts argue.

News • Know thy patients' symptoms

Questionnaire + spine MRI = better diagnosis

Not every spine abnormality shown in an MRI scan causes pain for a patient. To diagnose correctly, researchers advocate the use of questionnaires to match the images with reported symptoms.

News • Discussion on nomenclature

“Prostate cancer” or “incidentaloma”: What should early findings be called?

Certain early-stage changes to the prostate very rarely develop into aggressive cancer, but are still called that. Would it create a false sense of security to not call these “cancer” at all?

News • Checkpoint inhibitor research

Five key factors predict response to cancer immunotherapy

Only 20-40% of patients respond positively to immunotherapy, and these rates vary across different types of cancer. Researchers now identified five key factors that determine response and survival.

News • Circadian-based therapeutic strategies

Cancer drugs more effective when the time-of-day is right, study finds

The time of day can be an important aspect to consider for cancer therapy. Researchers from Charité are developing new methods to use the internal clock inside tumor cells to optimize treatments.

News • Cholecystectomy

Gallstones and abdominal pain: Surgery not always the best option

Even years after the removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy), one-third of patients still experience persisting abdominal pain. Better selection criteria for surgery are needed, say researchers.

News • Time loss vs. life expectancy gains

Dialysis: Is the tradeoff always worth it?

New research sheds light on the tradeoffs between survival and time spent in inpatient care that dialysis might entail. This could help patients with kidney failure make more informed decisions.

News • Patient-written symptom descriptions

ChatGPT struggles when medical questions are put in layman's terms

Enter symptoms into ChatGPT, receive an accurate diagnosis? Research reveals that LLM AI models are not quite there yet, struggling to identify genetic conditions from patient-written descriptions.

Article • Institutional setup guide at SNMMI 2024

How to establish a hospital theranostics treatment centre

The nuclear medicine global market is projected to see a significant increase in the coming years, with the lion's share being attributed to radiotherapeutics. So, how to set up a dedicated theranostics centre? At the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) in Toronto, Ontario, an entire session was dedicated to planning logistics, radiation safety, and…

News • Infection control

C. diff: diagnostic stewardship reduces unnecessary testing

A new study describes the outcome of a new approach to testing for Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) guided by the principles of diagnostic stewardship, to help rein in the overtreatment of patients.

Article • Professional perspectives

Theranostics: A career opportunity for Nuclear Medicine Technologists

What is an advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) and why should nuclear medicine technologists strive to become one? At the 2024 annual meeting of the SNMMI in Toronto, ACP Luisa Roldão Pereira outlined the position and its importance in the clinical context.

Article • Benefits of seated placement

Patient positioning during cancer radiotherapy: Upright is alright

The concept of delivering radiation therapy to cancer patients seated in an upright position is undergoing a major resurgence. Evidence is already highlighting that patients feel more comfortable seated upright and enjoy better communication with radiotherapists during their care. In addition, there are indications of less internal organ movement, enabling more accurate treatment delivery.…

News • Language barriers for health information

Chatbots get less accurate when health queries are not in English

Chatbots like ChatGPT generally deliver servicable results when asked for healthcare advice. However, new research suggests that the LLM's accuracy drops when languages other than English are used.

Interview • Documentation assistance

Virtual scribes free up physician's time from eHR

Physicians using a virtual scribe spend significantly less time in the eHR, a new study finds. This reduces their burden and frees up time for patient care – and AI could push this even further.

Article • Transformative technology

Generative AI in healthcare: More than a chatbot

‘Computer, why did the doctor take that MRI scan of my leg? And what did it show?’: Popularized by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence (AI) is already beginning to see practical applications in medical settings. The technology holds immense potential, with benefits for patients, clinicians, and even hospital administration, according to Shez Partovi, MD.

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