Women currently comprise more than half of all students enrolled in medical school, but gender inequality continues to mar some areas of medicine. In our field of interventional cardiology, men outnumbered women 95 to 5 as recently as 2019, but new technology, shifting attitudes and strategic recruiting have led to an influx of females in interventional cardiology that will alter the evolution of a field historically stunted by traditionalism.
Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause
Read More
5 Reasons Why Providers Need Electronic Support for Glycemic Management
It’s no secret hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia are associated with adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients. We’ve known for many years that hyperglycemia is widespread in the hospital, causes immune dysfunction, higher rates of infection, a longer length of hospital stay, complications, and even death.
Insulin has been the most effective therapy for hyperglycemia since it was first created almost 100 years ago, but it can also be dangerous if not managed properly. In fact, nearly 50% of all
Read More
The Digital Front Door: The Gateway to Empathetic Patient Navigation
The healthcare experience can often feel lonely. Lengthy surveys, unnecessary appointments, long waiting times and tedious, paperwork all contribute to this potentially confusing and isolating patient experience. Now, amidst a global health crisis, any barriers or obstacles to care could be detrimental beyond loneliness and could be fatal. These impeding components should not define a patient’s journey. Fair access to quality care, accurate record-keeping, and empathy should be at the core of
Read More
What Therapists Need to Know about Telehealth Technology
Thousands of therapists who never intended to engage in telehealth are now doing exactly that – they are providing services to clients in lockdown using video-enabled platforms. While the technological landscape for psychotherapy is dramatically improved from even a few years ago, therapists rapidly transitioning to online services need to hold a few things in mind.
It’s not the same as in-person therapy
While online psychotherapy has been shown to be just as effective as in-person care,
Read More
The New Normal: Rethinking Healthcare Delivery in a Post-COVID World
It’s becoming clearer that, while we are all hoping that things are going to go back to the way things were at the beginning of the year, the COVID-19 crisis will result in a new normal. That’s especially true in healthcare, due to four issues that are being wildly amplified by the COVID-19 crisis. Namely:
1. The US government has huge deficits, and healthcare is a major driver of the unsustainable increase in these deficits.
2. Addressing the demand for healthcare as a right (not a
Read More
How A Virtual Therapist Could Help Overcome Mental Healthcare Demands in Uncertain Times
Over the last few months, our hopes and expectations for 2020 have certainly been halted. There was an air of optimism globally as we entered the New Year and a new decade, but now we have been plunged into a world of uncertainty with the spreading COVID-19 pandemic. Future unknowns, both from a human well-being perspective and an economic standpoint are starting to take a toll on many people’s mental health.
Understandably, the situation we find ourselves in is creating concern and worry and
Read More
Consumer Genetic Tests Accelerate Precision Medicine for Some Providers
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests have been on the scene for some time now. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first DTC test on three specific BRCA1/BRCA2 breast cancer gene mutations more than two years ago. Six months after that, the agency similarly green-lighted a DTC pharmacogenomic (PGx) test to examine 33 variants for eight different genes that indicate how effectively patients metabolize specific medications.
Like many such advances, availability of DTC tests is
Read More
How Direct Digital Fax Can Improve System Usability for EHRs
The lack of EHR usability is a huge concern for the healthcare industry. According to a study conducted by Mayo Clinic researchers, modern electronic health records (EHR) are less user-friendly than Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Excel, and Google. Using the System Usability Scale (SUS), Electronic Health Records were marked with an unsettling “F” and a SUS score of 45 while Excel received a SUS score of 57 and Microsoft Word received a SUS score of 76. Google search came in on top with an “A” and a
Read More
Big Data Takes on the Silent Epidemic of Undiagnosed Behavioral Health Conditions
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, a study found that almost half of Americans will experience an episode of mental illness in their lives, but may never get the diagnosis and treatment they need. In a more recent finding, over 25% of American adults now meet the criteria for a diagnosis of severe mental distress.
The looming impact on our collective mental health is concerning enough, but there are also serious implications for physical health. Left unaddressed, behavioral health issues
Read More
COVID-19 Clinical Trials: How AI-Based Chatbots Can Provide Pandemic-Level Execution
More than 500 new COVID-19 related clinical trials have been registered as of the end of April. The race to find a COVID-19 vaccine is on and the public spotlight is on clinical trials. Strangely named drugs such as Hydroxychloroquine and Remdesivir have become household names and are featured and debated regularly on the 24-hour news channels.
The pressure to find a cure is intense. The locked-down world does not want to hear that at best, we may find a vaccine sometime in 2021. What
Read More
