5G-enabled smart hospitals: Innovations in patient care and facility management.

Smart hospitals represent the pinnacle of healthcare innovation, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to transform patient care and facility management. This article addresses the pressing need for effective implementation of 5G technology in smart hospitals, aiming to enhance connectivity, improve patient outcomes, and drive operational efficiency. The methodology employed involves a comprehensive review of existing literature, case studies, and expert insights to analyze the impact of 5G on various aspects of smart hospital operations. The article highlights the significance of 5G technology in enabling real-time data analytics, remote monitoring, and telemedicine, thus revolutionizing healthcare delivery. By providing high-speed, low-latency connectivity, 5G facilitates seamless communication and collaboration among healthcare providers, leading to more efficient diagnosis, treatment, and patient care. Additionally, the adoption of 5G enables smart hospitals to leverage artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions for predictive analytics, personalized medicine and enhanced patient engagement. Furthermore, the article explores the potential of 5G-enabled smart hospitals in enhancing disaster preparedness and emergency response efforts. Case studies and examples demonstrate how 5G technology can improve situational awareness, coordinate resources, and deliver timely care during natural disasters and pandemics. Overall, this article underscores the transformative impact of 5G technology on smart hospitals and emphasizes the importance of embracing innovation to meet the evolving needs of patients and communities. By adopting 5G technology, smart hospitals can usher in a new era of healthcare delivery characterized by enhanced connectivity, improved patient outcomes, and unparalleled efficiency.

Informal care after hip fracture: prospective cohort.

BACKGROUND: Hip fracture is very common and it has life-shattering consequences for older persons. After discharge the older persons need help with even basic everyday activities from formal and informal caregivers. In Scandinavia formal care are well-developed however the presence of informal caregivers likely reflect on the amount of formal care and wears on the informal caregivers. This study explore how often and how much informal care (IC) older persons receive after hip fracture. METHOD: We contacted 244 community-dwelling older persons every two weeks the first twelve weeks after discharge after hip fracture and asked them if they received care from family and/or friends and how much. We used non-parametric statistics and level of significance was 95%. RESULTS: The proportion of older persons receiving IC was 90% and the median amount of IC was 32 hours (IQR 14-66). The number of older persons who received IC was highest the first four weeks after discharge and so was the amount of hours of IC. The older persons that were high-dependence on IC received a median of 66 (IQR 46-107) hours compared to the low-dependent of 11 hours (IQR 2-20). CONCLUSION: IC is very frequent, especially the first two to four weeks after discharge. The median IC was 32 hours from discharge to the 12-week follow-up. However, this figure tended to rise for persons with, among other, reduced functionality and those residing with a partner. IMPLICATIONS: With respect to local differences, the findings in this study are likely applicable to other Scandinavian countries. We strongly suggest that the variation in older person need for informal caregiver be given consideration in the prioritisation of resources. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This prospective cohort study of informal care, was part of a cluster-randomised stepped-wedge clinical controlled trial. Written consent was obtained required by regional ethics committee S-20200070. Data was collected in accordance with the Danish Data Protection Agency (20-21854).

Could "Empathetic Refutation" Help Clinicians Sway Vaccine Skeptics?

This Medical News article discusses an intervention that uses empathy to address vaccine hesitancy in the clinic.

Should automated electronic hand-hygiene monitoring systems be implemented in routine patient care? Systematic review and appraisal with Medical Research Council Framework for Complex Interventions.

Manual hand-hygiene audit is time-consuming, labour-intensive and inaccurate. Automated hand-hygiene monitoring systems (AHHMSs) offer advantages (generation of standardized data, avoidance of the Hawthorne effect). World Health Organization Guidelines for Hand Hygiene published in 2009 suggest that AHHMSs are a possible alternative. The objective of this review was to assess the current state of the literature for AHHMSs and offer recommendations for use in real-world settings. This was a systematic literature review, and publications included were from the time that PubMed commenced until 19th November 2023. Forty-three publications met the criteria. Using the Medical Research Council's Framework for Developing and Evaluating Complex Interventions, two were categorized as intervention development studies. Thirty-nine were evaluations. Two described implementation in real-world settings. Most were small scale and short duration. AHHMSs in conjunction with additional intervention (visual or auditory cue, performance feedback) could increase hand hygiene compliance in the short term. Impact on infection rates was difficult to determine. In the few publications where costs and resources were considered, time devoted to improving hand hygiene compliance increased when an AHHMS was in use. Health workers' opinions about AHHMSs were mixed. In conclusion, at present too little is known about the longer-term advantages of AHHMSs to recommend uptake in routine patient care. Until more longer-term accounts of implementation (over 12 months) become available, efforts should be made to improve direct observation of hand hygiene compliance to improve its accuracy and credibility. The Medical Research Council Framework could be used to categorize other complex interventions involving use of technology to prevent infection to help establish readiness for implementation.

Adapting a community pharmacy intervention to improve medication safety.

BACKGROUND: Community pharmacies are an ideal location to address challenges of over-the-counter medication safety, yet many successful interventions are only tested in a few pharmacies without expansion, creating unrealized opportunities to improve patient care on a larger scale. Scaling up to numerous pharmacies can be challenging because each community pharmacy has unique needs and layouts and requires individualized adaptation. OBJECTIVES: This paper reports techniques for (a) adapting a community pharmacy intervention to fit the unique physical layout and patient needs of health system pharmacy sites without increasing staff workload, (b) identifying strategies to gather feedback on adaptations from stakeholders, and (c) developing materials to share with pharmacy champions for them to independently implement and sustain the intervention in their organization. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: The study team collaborated with Aurora Pharmacy, Inc to develop an intervention designed to increase awareness of safe over-the-counter medication use for older adults. PRACTICE INNOVATION: Senior Safe, a community pharmacy-based intervention, was designed, implemented, and tested using the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment implementation framework. EVALUATION METHODS: Senior Safe was adapted through pilot testing and a randomized control trial. Feedback was collected from key stakeholders, including pharmacy staff, older adults, and a research advisory group. RESULTS: A finalized version of Senior Safe, as well as an implementation package, was provided to Aurora Pharmacy to integrate into all 63 sites. CONCLUSION: This multiphase study illustrated that refining an intervention is possible and welcomed by pharmacy staff, but it requires time, resources, and funds to create an impactful, sustainable community pharmacy intervention.

Unmet Supportive Care Needs Among Cancer Patients in Sub-Saharan African Countries: A Mixed Method Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Supportive cancer care is vital to reducing the current disparities in cancer outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including poor survival and low quality of life, and ultimately achieving equity in cancer care. This is the first review aimed to evaluate the extent of unmet supportive care needs and identify their contributing factors among patients with cancer in SSA. METHODS: Six electronic databases (CINAHL, Embase, Medline [Ovid], PsycINFO, PubMed, and Cochrane Library of Databases] were systematically searched. Studies that addressed one or more domains of unmet supportive cancer care needs were included. Findings were analyzed using narrative analysis and meta-analysis, as appropriate. RESULT: Eleven articles out of 2732 were retained in the review. The pooled prevalence of perceived unmet need for cancer care in SSA was 63% (95% CI: 45, 81) for physical, 59% (95% CI: 45, 72) for health information and system, 58% (95% CI: 42, 74) for psychological, 44% (95% CI: 29, 59) for patient care and support, and 43% (95% CI: 23, 63) for sexual. Older age, female sex, rural residence, advanced cancer stage, and low access to health information were related to high rates of multiple unmet needs within supportive care domains. CONCLUSION: In SSA, optimal cancer care provision was low, up to two-thirds of patients reported unmet needs for one or more domains. Strengthening efforts to develop comprehensive and integrated systems for supportive care services are keys to improving the clinical outcome, survival, and quality of life of cancer patients in SSA.

Estimación de factores de riesgo del retardo en la cicatrización en pacientes quemados / Estimation of Risk Factors for Delayed Healing in Burn Patients

Introducción: La atención al paciente con retardo en la cicatrización parte de la optimización en sus cuidados. La reversión del cuadro requiere del conocimiento de los factores de riesgo. La literatura nacional e internacional describen factores locales o relacionados con la herida y generales o relacionados al estado general del paciente. Objetivo: Estimar los factores de riesgo del retardo en la cicatrización en pacientes quemados. Métodos: Estudio analítico de casos y control en pacientes quemados ingresados en el Servicio de Caumatología del Hospital Universitario Manuel Ascunce Domenech en el período 2017 a 2021. La población objeto de estudio comprendió a 267 pacientes. Se calculó el odds ratio y el intervalo de confianza. Resultados: El desarrollo de retardo en la cicatrización resultó tres veces y media más probable en pacientes quemados con 45 años y más, odds ratio 3,591. Además, fue nueve veces más probable en enfermedades crónicas asociadas, hasta seis veces en quemaduras no accidentales, 163 veces en la complicación local y 89 veces en la complicación sistémica. Conclusiones: Los factores de riesgo del retardo en la cicatrización en pacientes quemados identificados fueron los siguientes: edad de 45 años y más, presencia de comorbilidad, el fuego directo como agente causal, el modo de producción no accidental, la presencia de más de seis zonas anatómicas afectadas, la quemadura hipodérmica, la quemadura de 20 porciento de superficie corporal quemada y más de extensión, el apoyo de la lesión, el índice cubano de pronóstico con riesgo vital, la complicación local y la complicación sistémica(AU)

Introduction: The care for the patient with delayed healing starts from the optimization of their care. Reversing such condition requires knowledge of the risk factors. The national and international literature describes local factors related to the injury and general factors related to the patient's general condition. Objective: To estimate the risk factors for delayed healing in burn patients. Methods: An analytical case-control study was carried out with burn patients admitted to the caumatology service at Hospital Universitario Manuel Ascunce Domenech in the period from 2017 to 2021. The study population consisted of 267 patients. Odds ratio and confidence interval were calculated. Results: The development of delayed healing was three and a half times more likely in burn patients aged 45 years or over (odds ratio: 3.591). In addition, it was nine times more likely for associated chronic diseases, up to six times in nonaccidental burns, 163 times in local complications, and 89 times in systemic complications. Conclusions: The identified risk factors for delayed healing in burn patients were the following: age 45 years or over, presence of comorbidity, direct fire as causative agent, nonaccidental way of production, presence of more than six affected anatomical areas, hypodermic burn, burn extension of 20 percent or over on the burned body surface, injury contact pressure, the Cuban index of prognostic vital risk, as well as the local or the systemic complications(AU)

Caring for Patients With Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Summary of the 2023 ESICM Practice Guidelines.

This article summarizes the 2023 updated ARDS guidelines from the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, including the guidelines' methods, findings, and implications, along with reflections on next steps.

Love Your Patient as Yourself: On Reviving the Broken Heart of American Medical Ethics.

This article presents a radical claim: American medical ethics is broken, and it needs love to be healed. Due to a unique set of cultural and economic pressures, American medical ethics has adopted a mechanistic mode of ethical reasoning epitomized by the doctrine of principlism. This mode of reasoning divorces clinicians from both their patients and themselves. This results in clinicians who can ace ethics questions on multiple-choice tests but who fail either to recognize a patient's humanity or to navigate the ethical quandaries into which they are frequently thrown. Drawing on personal experience as well as the philosophical work of Augustine of Hippo, Simone Weil, and Iris Murdoch, we propose a novel ethical approach grounded in a conception of neighbor love, specifically, the virtue of love understood as attention to a sufferer's humanity. We conclude with five practical recommendations for reimagining medical ethics education oriented around the virtue of love.