Background: Mental health treatment is hindered by the limited number of mental health care providers and the infrequency of care. Digital mental health technology can help supplement treatment by remotely monitoring patient symptoms and predicting mental health crises in between clinical visits. However, the feasibility of digital mental health technologies has not yet been sufficiently explored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the face of formidable healthcare challenges, such as staffing shortages and rising costs, technology has emerged as a crucial ally in enhancing patient care. UCHealth, Colorado’s largest health system, has pioneered the integration of technology into patient care through its Virtual Health Center (VHC). In this Comment, we explore UCHealth’s journey in creating a centralized hub that harnesses innovative digital health solutions to address patient care needs across its 12 hospitals, spanning over 600,000 emergency department visits and nearly 150,000 inpatient and observation encounters annually.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open
February 2024
Objectives: To evaluate whether subcutaneous neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment given in the emergency department (ED) setting was associated with reduced hospitalizations, mortality, and severity of disease when compared to nontreatment among mAb-eligible patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Methods: This retrospective observational cohort study of ED patients utilized a propensity score-matched analysis to compare patients who received subcutaneous casirivimab and imdevimab mAb to nontreated COVID-19 control patients in November-December 2021. The primary outcome was all-cause hospitalization within 28 days, and secondary outcomes were 90-day hospitalization, 28- and 90-day mortality, and ED length of stay (LOS).
Precision medicine initiatives across the globe have led to a revolution of repositories linking large-scale genomic data with electronic health records, enabling genomic analyses across the entire phenome. Many of these initiatives focus solely on research insights, leading to limited direct benefit to patients. We describe the biobank at the Colorado Center for Personalized Medicine (CCPM Biobank) that was jointly developed by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and UCHealth to serve as a unique, dual-purpose research and clinical resource accelerating personalized medicine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were authorized for the treatment of COVID-19 outpatients based on clinical trials completed early in the pandemic, which were underpowered for mortality and subgroup analyses. Real-world data studies are promising for further assessing rapidly deployed therapeutics.
Research Question: Did mAb treatment prevent progression to severe disease and death across pandemic phases and based on risk factors, including prior vaccination status?
Study Design And Methods: This observational cohort study included nonhospitalized adult patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection from November 2020 to October 2021 using electronic health records from a statewide health system plus state-level vaccine and mortality data.
Investors, entrepreneurs, health care pundits, and venture capital firms all agree that the health care sector is awaiting a digital revolution. Steven Case, in 2016, predicted a "third wave" of innovation that would leverage big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to transform medicine and finally achieve reduced costs, improved efficiency, and better patient outcomes. Academic medical centers (AMCs) have the infrastructure and resources needed by digital health intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs to innovate, iterate, and optimize technology solutions for the major pain points of modern medicine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: There are currently limited objective criteria to help assist physicians in determining whether an individual patient with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is likely to do better with induction with either standard 7 + 3 chemotherapy or targeted therapy with venetoclax plus azacitidine. The study goal was to address this need by developing exploratory clinical decision support methods.
Patients And Methods: Univariable and multivariable analysis as well as comparison of a range of machine learning (ML) predictors were performed using cohorts of 120 newly diagnosed 7 + 3-treated AML patients compared with 101 venetoclax plus azacitidine-treated patients.
Background: Emergency department visits associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) continue to indicate racial and ethnic inequities. We describe the sociodemographic characteristics of individuals receiving COVID-19 vaccination in the emergency department and compare with an outpatient clinic population and emergency department (ED) patients who were eligible but not vaccinated.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of electronic health record data at an urban academic ED from May to July 2021.
Background: It is not known whether sotrovimab, a neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment authorized for early symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, is also effective in preventing the progression of severe disease and mortality following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant infection.
Methods: In an observational cohort study of nonhospitalized adult patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, 1 October 2021-11 December 2021, using electronic health records from a statewide health system plus state-level vaccine and mortality data, we used propensity matching to select 3 patients not receiving mAbs for each patient who received outpatient sotrovimab treatment. The primary outcome was 28-day hospitalization; secondary outcomes included mortality and severity of hospitalization.
Background: It is not known whether sotrovimab, a neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment authorized for early symptomatic COVID-19 patients, is effective against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant to prevent progression to severe disease and mortality.
Methods: Observational cohort study of non-hospitalized adult patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection from October 1 2021 - December 11 2021, using electronic health records from a statewide health system plus state-level vaccine and mortality data. We used propensity matching to select 3 patients not receiving mAbs for each patient who received outpatient sotrovimab treatment.
Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has presented the healthcare system with a plethora of challenges, including implementation of an efficient vaccination strategy. Mass vaccinations have been used during previous pandemics; however, the associated data have largely been limited to theoretical simulations and post hoc analysis.
Methods: An innovative data collection tool was created to deliver real-time data analysis during a drive-through mass vaccination.
Background: Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are authorized for early symptomatic COVID-19 patients. Whether mAbs are effective against the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, among vaccinated patients, or for prevention of mortality remains unknown.
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of mAb treatment in preventing progression to severe disease during the Delta phase of the pandemic and based on key baseline risk factors.
Drive-through clinics have previously been utilized in vaccination efforts and are now being more widely adopted for COVID-19 vaccination in different parts of the world by offering many advantages including utilizing existing infrastructure, large daily throughput and enforcing social distancing by default. Successful, effective, and efficient drive-through facilities require a suitable site and keen focus on layout and process design. To demonstrate the role that high fidelity computer simulation can play in planning and design of drive-through mass vaccination clinics, we used multiple integrated discrete event simulation (DES) and agent-based modelling methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Assess the impact of an electronic health record (EHR)-embedded clinical pathway (ePATH) as compared to a paper-based clinical decision support tool on outcomes for patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
Methods: A retrospective, quasi-experimental study using difference-in-differences and interrupted time series specifications to evaluate the impact of an EHR-embedded clinical pathway between April 2013 and July 2017. The intervention was implemented in February 2016 at a large academic tertiary hospital and compared to a local community hospital without the intervention.
Background: Evaluate an indication-based clinical decision support tool to improve antibiotic prescribing in the emergency department.
Methods: Encounters where an antibiotic was prescribed between January 2015 and October 2017 were analyzed before and after the introduction of a clinical decision support tool to improve clinicians' selection of a guideline-approved antibiotic based on clinical indication. Evaluation was conducted on a pre-defined subset of conditions that included skin and soft tissue infections, respiratory infections, and urinary infections.
Being named in a medical malpractice case is one of the most stressful events in a physician's career. This article reviews the legal system and the medical malpractice process. It details the steps a physician experiences during a medical malpractice case, from being served to the deposition and then to trial and appeals if the physician loses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Emergency department (ED) crowding is a critical problem in the delivery of acute unscheduled care. Many causes are external to the ED, but antiquated operational traditions like triage also contribute. A physician intake model has been shown to be beneficial in a single-centre study, but whether this solution is generalisable is not clear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe high prevalence of compassion fatigue contributes to burnout among oncology nurses. Interventions are needed to support individuals across diverse roles and practice settings in oncology. Virtual reality (VR) is an emerging technology that has been applied in healthcare education and training and is being explored as an intervention to reduce stress and support wellness for healthcare providers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe proliferation of technology enthuses clinicians, researchers, and entrepreneurs to revolutionize health care and care delivery. Intersecting in the field of digital health, academic-industry collaboration (AIC) play a critical role in advancing evidence-based innovations into real world application. AIC models vary, but historically have not included the strong emphasis on rapid research and discovery that the digital health field demands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Emergency Medicine Specimen Bank (EMSB) was developed to facilitate precision medicine in acute care. The EMSB is a biorepository of clinical health data and biospecimens collected from all adult English- or Spanish-speaking individuals who are able and willing to provide consent and are treated at the UCHealth-University of Colorado Hospital Emergency Department. The EMSB is the first acute care biobank that seeks to enroll all patients, with all conditions who present to the ED.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ED at the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent years, doubling in size while also using process improvement methods to dramatically reduce wait times, eliminate ambulance diversion, and boost patient satisfaction. Throughout this period, volume has continued to increase while the cost per patient and avoidable hospital admissions have experienced steady declines. Guiding the effort has been a series of core principles, with a particular focus on making sure that all processes are patient-centered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile there has been considerable effort devoted to developing alternative payment models (APMs) for primary care physicians and for episodes of care beginning with inpatient admissions, there has been relatively little attention by payers to developing APMs for specialty ambulatory care, and no efforts to develop APMs that explicitly focus on emergency care. In order to ensure that emergency care is appropriately integrated and valued in future payment models, emergency physicians (EPs) must engage with the stakeholders within the broader health care system. In this article, we describe a framework for the development of APMs for emergency medicine and present four examples of APMs that may be applicable in emergency medicine.
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