The COVID States Project #77: Healthcare workers' perception of COVID-19 misinformation

How significant a problem is misinformation for the delivery of healthcare services? Misinformation, and any resulting misperceptions, certainly have the potential to negatively impact people’s attitudes and behaviors surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether or not someone internalizes misinformation depends on multiple factors, but one key consideration is their level of trust in established experts providing cues on COVID-19 behavior. For instance, people who do not trust sources such as the CDC will be less likely to follow its recommendations on COVID-19 prevention behaviors, and may instead opt to seek out information - which often turns out to be misinformation - on their own. Understanding the sources and effects of information and misinformation is therefore important.

Telemedecine the the Context of COVID-19 in Ecuador

The improvement in the delivery of healthcare services in geographically remote and rural areas is one of the most promising and clearly demonstrated applications of information and communication technology (ICT) in sustainable development. ICT provides considerable benefits and capabilities when applied to disease prevention and response efforts during epidemics and pandemics. The expansion of the COVID-19 outbreak that began in Wuhan, China alerted all the countries of the world from the beginning of 2020 and reached Latin America in mid-February 2020. In this chapter, VERIS, an Ecuadorian successful practice of telemedicine during the COVID-19 times, is presented. VERIS allows remote consultation with a certified doctor, following the WHO protocol, and other relevant services provided also remotely. The VERIS experience is particularly relevant during the present COVID-19 pandemic because it eliminates the risks of contagion deriving from visiting hospitals in person and could be particularly useful for emerging economies with practical implications for mature ones.

Health Literacy and Ethnic Minority Populations

This chapter will show how optimizing health literacy can benefit the delivery of healthcare to the population in a way that materially addresses the inequalities in the National Health Service (NHS). These inequalities adversely impact different population groups in different ways, for various reasons. However, ethnic minority populations are especially vulnerable to inequalities having an adverse effect on the delivery of healthcare to the population, thereby adversely affecting their access, engagement, and healthcare benefits and consequently their general health, wellbeing, and life expectancy. Optimizing health literacy in these populations will enable increased engagement and participation, thereby delivering healthcare more effectively to the population by tailoring it to their needs and addressing current inequalities.

Implementation and Application of Artificial Intelligence in Selected Public Services

Data-intensive technologies, such as artificial intelligence, imply huge opportunities for transforming the delivery of healthcare and social services, improving people’s quality of life and working in the health and welfare system. The aim of this paper is to present examples of the implementation of artificial intelligence techniques in healthcare and social services and to sketch the trends and challenges in the adoption of artificial intelligence techniques, with an emphasis on the public sector and selected public services. Analysis is based on a realistic assessment of current artificial intelligence technologies and their anticipated development. Besides the benefits and potential opportunities for healthcare and social services, there are also challenges for governments. Understanding the huge potential of artificial intelligence as well as its limitations will be a key step forward, but it is essential to avoid the trap of an overestimation of artificial intelligence potential.

The virtual Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competence: the impact and challenges of a digitised final examination

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how clinical examinations are conducted, resulting in the Royal College of Psychiatrists delivering the Clinical Assessment of Skills and Competence virtually. Although this pragmatic step has allowed for progression of training, it has come at the cost of a significantly altered examination experience. This article aims to explore the fairness of such an examination, the difference in trainee experience, and the use of telemedicine to consider what might be lost as well as gained at a time when medical education and delivery of healthcare are moving toward the digitised frontier.

Community-Based Brain Health Promotion During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Efforts of AARP in the USA

The pandemic has created new barriers for the delivery of healthcare resources and information, as well as in-person delivery of health care, caregiving, and social engagement. AARP created trainings designed for volunteer-led community-based brain health promotion. Due to the COVID, we have had to convert them to virtual presentations, distributed through technology. Staying Sharp is AARP’s online platform that educates users about integrated, holistic, lifestyle-based approaches for maintaining brain health as we age. This platform was created for convenience and scalability – we currently have over 800,000 users. During a period of necessary isolation, this platform has performed as an ideal way to get helpful information about maintaining brain health to our consumers, who are now stuck at home without access to in-person (e.g., community-based) alternatives. We will discuss lessons learned from these two different approaches along with preliminary data on behavior change based on these engagements.

BMJ HCI launches partnership programme for patients and carers as authors and peer reviewers

BMJ Health & Care Informatics (BMJHCI) is launching a partnership programme, where patients write articles and serve as peer reviewers on both patient-written and researcher-written articles. This article outlines the programme and describes the importance of public involvement in research and implementation in digital health. We think patients and carers should be funded to participate at this stage of research as well as other stages of research. The quality of peer review can be greatly improved by recruiting patients to peer review and improve readability and understanding of scientific literature and to ensure that research and other articles appropriately include what matters most to patients. Just as real-time communication is two-way communication, both healthcare providers and patients should have a voice in the literature, and involving patients in journals is an important step toward amplifying and supporting the balance of perspectives. Patients are the whole purpose of research and practice in health and care, so this rightly includes their role in the publication and review of health informatics literature as well as the publication of their own perspectives regarding access and delivery of healthcare. Patients and carers can provide valuable insights into research articles, and they can also serve as effective peer reviewers. The BMJHCI is excited to kick off the new partnership programme and encourages all interested patients and carers to apply to participate as authors and/or reviewers.

Delivery of healthcare provider’s lifestyle advice and lifestyle behavioural change in adults who were overweight or obese in pre-diabetes management in the USA: NHANES (2013–2018)

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to examine the association between delivery of healthcare provider’s advice about lifestyle management and lifestyle behavioural change in pre-diabetes management in adults who were overweight or obese.DesignThis cross-sectional study included adults with body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2 and reporting pre-diabetes in USA. Outcomes included the prevalence of receiving provider’s advice on lifestyle management and patterns of practicing lifestyle change. The association between delivery of provider’s advice and lifestyle-related behavioural change in pre-diabetes management was examined.SettingUS Continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013–2018).ParticipantsA total of 1039 adults with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 reported pre-diabetes.ResultsOf eligible adults with pre-diabetes, 76.8% received provider’s advice about lifestyle change. The advice group showed higher proportions of ongoing lifestyle change than no advice group, including weight reduction/control (80.1% vs 70.9%, p=0.018), exercise (70.9% vs 60.9%, p=0.013) and diet modifications (83.8% vs 61.8%, p<0.001). After adjustment, those receiving provider’s advice were more likely to increase exercise (OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.12 to 2.38) and modify diet (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.82 to 4.96).ConclusionOver 75% of US adults who were overweight or obese and reported pre-diabetes received healthcare provider’s advice about reducing the risk of diabetes through lifestyle change. Provider’s advice increased the likelihood of lifestyle-related behavioural change to exercise and diet.

Automation of mass vaccination against COVID-19 at an academic health center

As vaccines against COVID-19 became available for distribution, the University of Miami addressed several challenges to facilitate vaccine allocation to the highest risk employees, patients, and students. Advanced use of technology allowed for the automation of key processes in the mass vaccination effort, which expedited vaccine outreach and scheduling, while maintaining routine delivery of healthcare services. The University’s employees were initially prioritized for vaccination; employees who opted in were stratified into 5 vaccine administration phases. A similar process was implemented for students. When the state of Florida mandated expansion of vaccine allocation to include individuals aged 65 and older, an algorithm for patients was designed, taking into account age, comorbidities, date of last visit, and presence of an activated patient portal account. Innovative use of technology allowed for 19 000 vaccines to be administered within the first 37 days, which comprised 100% vaccine allotment, without wasting a single vaccine dose.

Preparing for the future: How organizations can prepare boards, leaders, and risk managers for artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the notion of machines mimicking complex cognitive functions usually associated with humans, such as reasoning, predicting, planning, and problem-solving. With constantly growing repositories of data, improving algorithmic sophistication and faster computing resources, AI is becoming increasingly integrated into everyday use. In healthcare, AI represents an opportunity to increase safety, improve quality, and reduce the burden on increasingly overstretched systems. As applications expand, the need for responsible oversight and governance becomes even more important. Artificial intelligence in the delivery of healthcare carries new opportunities and challenges, including the need for greater transparency, the impact AI tools may have on a larger number of patients and families, and potential biases that may be introduced by the way an AI platform was developed and built. This study provides practical guidance in the development and implementation of AI applications in healthcare, with a focus on risk identification, management, and mitigation.