The Design and Evolution of an Adaptable CME Programme to Suit the Changing Educational Needs of the Clinical Community.

Continuing medical education (CME) plays a critical role in healthcare, helping to ensure patients receive the best possible care and optimal disease management. Considering the obstacles to engaging in CME activities faced by the clinical community, as well as employing learning theory, Liberum IME developed Classroom to Clinic™ - a bespoke, accredited learning format that can be tailored to individuals' educational needs and time constraints. Through monitoring use, and incorporating qualitative and quantitative feedback, we continuously evaluate the usability, value and accessibility of this programme and adapt subsequent iterations accordingly. An example of this is the way we adapted our engagement of facilitators. Originally this was accomplished by targeting individuals for train-the-trainer events, but it was clear this was more effective in some countries than in others. To address this variability, we piloted launching a new module at a relevant large international congress. This aimed to instigate a cascade in education sharing, from congress attendees to peers at their clinics and across departments and hospitals. So far, the programme has reported encouraging improvements in uptake, as well as knowledge, competence and clinical practice, while qualitative feedback has allowed for the identification of further educational needs and continued evolution of the programme.

The Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence Conversational Agents in Health Care: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: The high demand for health care services and the growing capability of artificial intelligence have led to the development of conversational agents designed to support a variety of health-related activities, including behavior change, treatment support, health monitoring, training, triage, and screening support. Automation of these tasks could free clinicians to focus on more complex work and increase the accessibility to health care services for the public. An overarching assessment of the acceptability, usability, and effectiveness of these agents in health care is needed to collate the evidence so that future development can target areas for improvement and potential for sustainable adoption. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness and usability of conversational agents in health care and identify the elements that users like and dislike to inform future research and development of these agents. METHODS: PubMed, Medline (Ovid), EMBASE (Excerpta Medica dataBASE), CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Web of Science, and the Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library were systematically searched for articles published since 2008 that evaluated unconstrained natural language processing conversational agents used in health care. EndNote (version X9, Clarivate Analytics) reference management software was used for initial screening, and full-text screening was conducted by 1 reviewer. Data were extracted, and the risk of bias was assessed by one reviewer and validated by another. RESULTS: A total of 31 studies were selected and included a variety of conversational agents, including 14 chatbots (2 of which were voice chatbots), 6 embodied conversational agents (3 of which were interactive voice response calls, virtual patients, and speech recognition screening systems), 1 contextual question-answering agent, and 1 voice recognition triage system. Overall, the evidence reported was mostly positive or mixed. Usability and satisfaction performed well (27/30 and 26/31), and positive or mixed effectiveness was found in three-quarters of the studies (23/30). However, there were several limitations of the agents highlighted in specific qualitative feedback. CONCLUSIONS: The studies generally reported positive or mixed evidence for the effectiveness, usability, and satisfactoriness of the conversational agents investigated, but qualitative user perceptions were more mixed. The quality of many of the studies was limited, and improved study design and reporting are necessary to more accurately evaluate the usefulness of the agents in health care and identify key areas for improvement. Further research should also analyze the cost-effectiveness, privacy, and security of the agents. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/16934.

Use of Apps to Promote Childhood Vaccination: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Vaccination is a critical step in reducing child mortality; however, vaccination rates have declined in many countries in recent years. This decrease has been associated with an increase in the outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases. The potential for leveraging mobile platforms to promote vaccination coverage has been investigated in the development of numerous mobile apps. Although many are available for public use, there is little robust evaluation of these apps. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of apps supporting childhood vaccinations in improving vaccination uptake, knowledge, and decision making as well as the usability and user perceptions of these apps. METHODS: PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases were systematically searched for studies published between 2008 and 2019 that evaluated childhood vaccination apps. Two authors screened and selected studies according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were extracted and analyzed, and the studies were assessed for risk of bias. RESULTS: A total of 28 studies evaluating 25 apps met the inclusion criteria and were included in this analysis. Overall, 9 studies assessed vaccination uptake, of which 4 reported significant benefits (P<.001 or P=.03) of the implementation of the app. Similarly, 4 studies indicated a significant (P≤.054) impact on knowledge and on vaccination decision making. Patient perceptions, usability, and acceptability were generally positive. The quality of the included studies was found to be moderate to poor, with many aspects of the methodology being unclear. CONCLUSIONS: There is little evidence to support the use of childhood vaccination apps to improve vaccination uptake, knowledge, or decision making. Further research is required to understand the dichotomous effects of vaccination-related information provision and the evaluation of these apps in larger, more robust studies. The methodology of studies must be reported more comprehensively to accurately assess the effectiveness of childhood vaccination apps and the risk of bias of studies. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/16929.

Effectiveness of Conversational Agents (Virtual Assistants) in Health Care: Protocol for a Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Conversational agents (also known as chatbots) have evolved in recent decades to become multimodal, multifunctional platforms with potential to automate a diverse range of health-related activities supporting the general public, patients, and physicians. Multiple studies have reported the development of these agents, and recent systematic reviews have described the scope of use of conversational agents in health care. However, there is scarce research on the effectiveness of these systems; thus, their viability and applicability are unclear. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this systematic review is to assess the effectiveness of conversational agents in health care and to identify limitations, adverse events, and areas for future investigation of these agents. METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocols will be used to structure this protocol. The focus of the systematic review is guided by a population, intervention, comparator, and outcome framework. A systematic search of the PubMed (Medline), EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases will be conducted. Two authors will independently screen the titles and abstracts of the identified references and select studies according to the eligibility criteria. Any discrepancies will then be discussed and resolved. Two reviewers will independently extract and validate data from the included studies into a standardized form and conduct quality appraisal. RESULTS: As of January 2020, we have begun a preliminary literature search and piloting of the study selection process. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review aims to clarify the effectiveness, limitations, and future applications of conversational agents in health care. Our findings may be useful to inform the future development of conversational agents and promote the personalization of patient care. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/16934.

Mobile Apps for Health Behavior Change in Physical Activity, Diet, Drug and Alcohol Use, and Mental Health: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: With a growing focus on patient interaction with health management, mobile apps are increasingly used to deliver behavioral health interventions. The large variation in these mobile health apps-their target patient group, health behavior, and behavioral change strategies-has resulted in a large but incohesive body of literature. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of mobile apps in improving health behaviors and outcomes and to examine the inclusion and effectiveness of behavior change techniques (BCTs) in mobile health apps. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science were systematically searched for articles published between 2014 and 2019 that evaluated mobile apps for health behavior change. Two authors independently screened and selected studies according to the eligibility criteria. Data were extracted and the risk of bias was assessed by one reviewer and validated by a second reviewer. RESULTS: A total of 52 randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis-37 studies focused on physical activity, diet, or a combination of both, 11 on drug and alcohol use, and 4 on mental health. Participant perceptions were generally positive-only one app was rated as less helpful and satisfactory than the control-and the studies that measured engagement and usability found relatively high study completion rates (mean 83%; n=18, N=39) and ease-of-use ratings (3 significantly better than control, 9/15 rated >70%). However, there was little evidence of changed behavior or health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: There was no strong evidence in support of the effectiveness of mobile apps in improving health behaviors or outcomes because few studies found significant differences between the app and control groups. Further research is needed to identify the BCTs that are most effective at promoting behavior change. Improved reporting is necessary to accurately evaluate the mobile health app effectiveness and risk of bias.

Use of Apps to Promote Childhood Vaccination: Protocol for a Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: The decline in the uptake of routine childhood vaccinations has resulted in outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination apps can be used as a tool to promote immunization through the provision of reminders, dissemination of information, peer support, and feedback. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this review is to systematically review the evidence on the use of apps to support childhood vaccination uptake, information storage, and record sharing. METHODS: We will identify relevant papers by searching the following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase by Ovid, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), ClinicalTrials.gov, and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). We will review the reference lists of those studies that we include to identify relevant additional papers not initially identified using our search strategy. In addition to the use of electronic databases, we will search for grey literature on the topic. The search strategy will include only terms relating to or describing the intervention, which is app use. As almost all titles and abstracts are in English, 100% of these will be reviewed, but retrieval will be confined to papers written in the English language. We will record the search outcome on a specifically designed record sheet. Two reviewers will select observational and intervention studies, appraise the quality of the studies, and extract the relevant data. All studies will involve the use of apps relating to child vaccinations. The primary outcome is the uptake of vaccinations. Secondary outcomes are as follows: (1) use of app for sharing of information and providing vaccination reminders and (2) use of app for storage of vaccination information; knowledge and decision making by parents regarding vaccination (ie, risks and benefits of vaccination); costs and cost-effectiveness of vaccination apps; use of the app and measures of usability (eg, usefulness, acceptability, and experiences of different users: parents and health care professionals); use of technical standards for development of the app; and adverse events (eg, data leaks and misinformation). We will exclude studies that do not study an app. We anticipate a limited scope for meta-analysis and will provide a narrative overview of findings and tabular summaries of extracted data. RESULTS: This project was funded by the Sir David Cooksey Fellowship in Healthcare Translation at the University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. We will submit the full systematic review for publication in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. CONCLUSIONS: This review will follow, where possible, the Cochrane Collaboration and the Centre for Review and Dissemination methodologies for conducting systematic reviews. We will report our findings based on guidelines from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. The review results will be used to inform the development of a vaccination app. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/16929.

Engineering Requirements of a Herpes Simplex Virus Patient Registry: Discovery Phase of a Real-World Evidence Platform to Advance Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine.

Comprehensive pharmacogenomic understanding requires both robust genomic and demographic data. Patient registries present an opportunity to collect large amounts of robust, patient-level data. Pharmacogenomic advancement in the treatment of infectious diseases is yet to be fully realised. Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is one disease for which pharmacogenomic understanding is wanting. This paper aims to understand the key factors that impact data collection quality for medical registries and suggest potential design features of an HSV medical registry to overcome current constraints and allow for this data to be used as a complement to genomic and clinical data to further the treatment of HSV. This paper outlines the discovery phase for the development of an HSV registry with the aim of learning about the users and their contexts, the technological constraints and the potential improvements that can be made. The design requirements and user stories for the HSV registry have been identified for further alpha phase development. The current landscape of HSV research and patient registry development were discussed. Through the analysis of the current state of the art and thematic user analysis, potential design features were elucidated to facilitate the collection of high-quality, robust patient-level data which could contribute to advances in pharmacogenomic understanding and personalised medicine in HSV. The user requirements specification for the development of an HSV registry has been summarised and implementation strategies for the alpha phase discussed.

Low dietary calcium in European postmenopausal osteoporotic women.

OBJECTIVE: The WHO recommends a daily Ca intake for postmenopausal women of 1300 mg. The objective of the present study was to assess the dietary Ca intake in European postmenopausal osteoporotic women. DESIGN, SETTING AND SUBJECTS: Assessment of dietary Ca intake (food and supplements) was performed with a validated self-questionnaire in 8524 osteoporotic women from nine European countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK). RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 74.2 (sd 7.1) years, mean BMI was 25.7 (sd 4.2) kg/m2. Of the study population, 37.2 % of the women took Ca supplements. The mean dietary intake of Ca was 930.7 (sd 422.9) mg/d. The lowest Ca intake was found in Hungary (586.7 (sd 319.1) mg/d) and the highest in Denmark (1145.6 (sd 463.0) mg/d). In the whole study population, only 19.1 % of the women had a dietary Ca intake >1300 mg/d. Only 17.1 % of women aged over 75 years achieved 1300 mg/d compared with 20.5 % of women aged less than 75 years (P = 0.0001 for the difference between the two groups). CONCLUSION: Dietary intake of Ca is very low in European postmenopausal women. A greater awareness is needed to resolve this public health problem.

Vitamin D inadequacy in French osteoporotic and osteopenic women.

OBJECTIVE: Studies have shown that low serum vitamin D levels are associated with secondary hyperparathyroidism, which decreases bone strength and increases fracture risk, most notably after 50 years of age. The objective of this study was to evaluate the vitamin D status of postmenopausal women in France. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of 1292 menopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia. The age range was 52-94 years. Serum 25-OH-vitamin D was assayed in each patient. Based on data in the literature, we used four 25-OH-D cutoffs to define vitamin D deficiency: 30, 50, 75, and 80 nmol/L (<12, <20, <30, and <32 ng/ml). RESULTS: Mean serum 25-OH-D was 51.5+/-26.1 nmol/L (about 20.6+/-10.4 ng/ml). In the 343 (26.5%) patients taking supplemental vitamin D with or without supplemental calcium, the mean serum 25-OH-D level was significantly higher than in the other patients (65.0+/-26.0 ng/ml vs. 46.6+/-18.6 ng/ml; P<0.001). In the subgroup not taking vitamin D supplements, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was 27.3%, 54.1%, 89.9%, and 93.2% with the 30, 50, 75, and 80 nmol/L cutoffs, respectively. The mean 25-OH-D level varied across seasons (P<0.001), with the highest value being obtained in summer (53.4+/-18.7 nmol/L; about 21.3+/-7.5 ng/ml). CONCLUSION: Vitamin D deficiency is common among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis or osteopenia in France.