Digital Health bits | November 27th 2019
Orthopaedic hospital teams up with myrecovery for app
The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) has teamed up with myrecovery to launch the app, which is designed for orthopaedic patients and aims to help them feel more informed about their pre and post-op care.
RJAH is believed to be the first NHS trust to use the myrecovery app. It is being trialled with patients under the Veterans’ Orthopaedic Service and could later be rolled out across the whole hospital.
The app includes videos from surgeons, physiotherapists and nurses who offer tips and advice for patients, as well as providing them with a way to track their progress on the road to recovery.
Lieutenant colonel Carl Meyer, consultant orthopaedic surgeon and serving officer in the British Army who leads on the veterans’ orthopaedic service at the hospital, said the app was a “valuable tool”.
He added: “They [his patients] now have all the information they need at their fingertips, and all the content has been created and approved by the team so it’s accurate, up-to-date and reliable.”
#DigitalHealth
Read more: https://www.digitalhealth.net/2019/11/orthopaedic-hospital-teams-up-with-myrecovery-for-app/
Propeller Health app expands to more pharmacy chains
Madison-based Propeller Health, a digital health company focused on patients with asthma and lung disease, has expanded a pharmacy refill app to include CVS, Kroger, Rite-Aid and Walmart pharmacies.
My Pharmacy, an app feature that allows users to order refills and find a nearby pharmacy, started in January with Walgreens pharmacies. Now the service includes five of the seven largest pharmacy chains, which account for more than half of U.S. market share for prescription drugs, Propeller said in a statement.
“We know that medication management can be an additional burden for people living with asthma and COPD,” said Greg Tracy, chief technology officer of Propeller Health. “We hope that creating a convenient way to refill prescriptions and locate nearby pharmacies from the Propeller app makes life easier for our users.”
#DigitalHealth
Wellframe hopes to offer ‘digital concierge’ after $20m funding round
Wellframe, a company focused on digital health management, has closed a series C funding round raising $20 million, to expand its offering to include a “digital health concierge” helping patients with finance and admin.
Wellframe has a patented app that extends the reach and effectiveness of care teams, delivering interactive clinical programmes to members’ smartphones or tablets.
The app translates evidence-based, peer-reviewed guidelines and literature into an interactive daily checklist for patients.
As patients engage with the Wellframe app, their data is shared in real time with their care team through the care team dashboard, which uses advanced algorithms to generate early intervention alerts.
With secure two-way messaging, Wellframe aims to build long-term, trusted relationships between patients and care teams.
#DigitalHealth
Read more: https://pharmaphorum.com/news/wellframe-hopes-to-offer-digital-concierge/
First evaluation of a digital sepsis alert system in a UK hospital trust
The introduction of the digital sepsis alert system at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in 2016 was associated with lower odds of death, shorter hospital stays and increased odds of receiving timely antibiotics.
The system monitors a range of changes in patients such as temperature, heart rate and glucose levels and alerts doctors and nurses if they fall outside safe parameters so they can investigate further. Clinicians are notified of patients who have triggered the alert either through a pop-up warning on their electronic health records and/or on a dashboard, which highlights any patient with an active alert when they open a patient’s record.
In addition to the alert, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust designed a multidisciplinary care plan which is launched in the electronic patient record system when a clinician confirms a diagnosis of sepsis. This prompts the clinical team to determine the best options from a range of treatments, such as fluids, oxygen, diagnostic tests and early antibiotics, and ensure they are given to patients within one hour – in line with national targets.
The study, led by researchers at Imperial College London and published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, is the first evaluation of a digital sepsis alert system in a British hospital trust and the largest undertaken anywhere to date.
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Alder Hey staff to use electronic devices to identify early warning signs
Electronic hand-held devices are being used to record patients’ vital signs at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as part of a study.
Staff at the trust are currently using electronic devices to record breathing rate, effort of breathing, oxygen saturation, oxygen requirement, heart rate, blood pressure, capillary refill time, temperature and nurse or parental concerns.
The recorded data will automatically calculate an age-specific paediatric early warning score (PEWS), which categorises the risk of developing serious illness into low, medium, high or critical. These scores and signs suggestive of sepsis are automatically flagged to staff to help them recognise the early signs of deterioration, with a view to reducing emergency admissions to critical care.
The DETECT study (Dynamic Electronic Tracking and Escalation) to reduce critical care transfers has been funded by a ￡1.25m grant awarded by the National Institute for Health Research Invention for Innovation Programme (NIHR).
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Digital health co Diagnostic Robotics raises $24m
Diagnostic Robotics, founded by artificial intelligence (AI) expert Dr. Kira Radinsky, robotics expert Prof. Moshe Shoham, and CEO Jonathan Amir, has raised $24 million.
Diagnostics Robotics deals with load management at hospitals and aims to shorten waiting times. The company's aim is to predict the load in advance using information gathered continuously from every action taking place in the system, and to prepare the hospital in advance in order to ease or manage the load. In the first stage, the system is installed in emergency rooms, and its main function is to support doctors in assigning priorities to patients and deciding about the possible medical diagnosis. The system is planned to expand later to management of the entire hospital and beyond it, including preventing patients from coming to the hospital if it is not really necessary, while channeling them to other solutions.
#AI #DigitalHealth
Read more: https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-Diagnostic-Robotics-raises-24m-1001307011
Note: Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer