Simulated Misuse of Large Language Models and Clinical Credit Systems.

Large language models (LLMs) have been proposed to support many healthcare tasks, including disease diagnostics and treatment personalization. While AI models may be applied to assist or enhance the delivery of healthcare, there is also a risk of misuse. LLMs could be used to allocate resources based on unfair, inaccurate, or unjust criteria. For example, a social credit system uses big data to assess "trustworthiness" in society, punishing those who score poorly based on evaluation metrics defined only by a power structure (corporate entity, governing body). Such a system may be amplified by powerful LLMs which can rate individuals based on high-dimensional multimodal data - financial transactions, internet activity, and other behavioural inputs. Healthcare data is perhaps the most sensitive information which can be collected and could potentially be used to violate civil liberty via a "clinical credit system", which may include limiting or rationing access to standard care. This report simulates how clinical datasets might be exploited and proposes strategies to mitigate the risks inherent to the development of AI models for healthcare.

Reducing False-Positives Due to Urinary Stagnation in the Prostatic Urethra on 18F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT With MRI.

PURPOSE: Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting PET radiotracers reveal physiologic uptake in the urinary system, potentially misrepresenting activity in the prostatic urethra as an intraprostatic lesion. This study examined the correlation between midline 18F-DCFPyL activity in the prostate and hyperintensity on T2-weighted (T2W) MRI as an indication of retained urine in the prostatic urethra. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty-five patients who underwent both 18F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT and prostate MRI between July 2017 and September 2023 were retrospectively analyzed for midline radiotracer activity and retained urine on postvoid T2W MRIs. Fisher's exact tests and unpaired t tests were used to compare residual urine presence and prostatic urethra measurements between patients with and without midline radiotracer activity. The influence of anatomical factors including prostate volume and urethral curvature on urinary stagnation was also explored. RESULTS: Midline activity on PSMA PET imaging was seen in 14 patients included in the case group, whereas the remaining 71 with no midline activity constituted the control group. A total of 71.4% (10/14) and 29.6% (21/71) of patients in the case and control groups had urethral hyperintensity on T2W MRI, respectively (P < 0.01). Patients in the case group had significantly larger mean urethral dimensions, larger prostate volumes, and higher incidence of severe urethral curvature compared with the controls. CONCLUSIONS: Stagnated urine within the prostatic urethra is a potential confounding factor on PSMA PET scans. Integrating PET imaging with T2W MRI can mitigate false-positive calls, especially as PSMA PET/CT continues to gain traction in diagnosing localized prostate cancer.

Evaluating Diagnostic Accuracy and Inter-reader Agreement of the Prostate Imaging After Focal Ablation Scoring System.

Background and objective: Focal therapy (FT) is increasingly recognized as a promising approach for managing localized prostate cancer (PCa), notably reducing treatment-related morbidities. However, post-treatment anatomical changes present significant challenges for surveillance using current imaging techniques. This study aimed to evaluate the inter-reader agreement and efficacy of the Prostate Imaging after Focal Ablation (PI-FAB) scoring system in detecting clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) on post-FT multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI). Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted involving patients who underwent primary FT for localized csPCa between 2013 and 2023, followed by post-FT mpMRI and a prostate biopsy. Two expert genitourinary radiologists retrospectively evaluated post-FT mpMRI using PI-FAB. The key measures included inter-reader agreement of PI-FAB scores, assessed by quadratic weighted Cohen's kappa (κ), and the system's efficacy in predicting in-field recurrence of csPCa, with a PI-FAB score cutoff of 3. Additional diagnostic metrics including sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and overall accuracy were also evaluated. Key findings and limitations: Scans from 38 patients were analyzed, revealing a moderate level of agreement in PI-FAB scoring (κ = 0.56). Both radiologists achieved sensitivity of 93% in detecting csPCa, although specificity, PPVs, NPVs, and accuracy varied. Conclusions and clinical implications: The PI-FAB scoring system exhibited high sensitivity with moderate inter-reader agreement in detecting in-field recurrence of csPCa. Despite promising results, its low specificity and PPV necessitate further refinement. These findings underscore the need for larger studies to validate the clinical utility of PI-FAB, potentially aiding in standardizing post-treatment surveillance. Patient summary: Focal therapy has emerged as a promising approach for managing localized prostate cancer, but limitations in current imaging techniques present significant challenges for post-treatment surveillance. The Prostate Imaging after Focal Ablation (PI-FAB) scoring system showed high sensitivity for detecting in-field recurrence of clinically significant prostate cancer. However, its low specificity and positive predictive value necessitate further refinement. Larger, more comprehensive studies are needed to fully validate its clinical utility.

Parent Activation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

OBJECTIVE: Patient activation is the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage one's health; parent activation is a comparable concept related to a parent's ability to manage a child's health. Activation in adults is a modifiable risk factor and associated with clinical outcomes and health care utilization. We examined activation in parents of hospitalized newborns observing temporal trends and associations with sociodemographic characteristics, neonate characteristics, and outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: Participants included adult parents of neonates admitted to a level-IV neonatal intensive care unit in an academic medical center. Activation was measured with the 10-item Parent version of the Patient Activation Measure (P-PAM) at admission, discharge, and 30 days after discharge. Associations with sociodemographic variables, health literacy, clinical variables, and health care utilization were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 96 adults of 64 neonates were enrolled. The overall mean P-PAM score on admission was 81.8 (standard deviation [SD] = 18), 88.8 (SD = 13) at discharge, and 86.8 (SD = 16) at 30-day follow-up. Using linear mixed regression model, P-PAM score was significantly associated with timing of measurement. Higher P-PAM scores were associated with higher health literacy (p = 0.002) and higher in mothers compared to fathers (p = 0.040). There were no significant associations of admission P-PAM scores with sociodemographic characteristics. Parents of neonates who had a surgical diagnosis had a statistically significant (p = 0.003) lower score than those who did not. There were no associations between discharge P-PAM scores and neonates' lengths of stay or other indicators of illness severity. CONCLUSION: Parental activation in the NICU setting was higher than reported in the adult and limited pediatric literature; scores increased from admission to discharge and 30-day postdischarge. Activation was higher in mothers and parents with higher health literacy. Additional larger scale studies are needed to determine whether parental activation is associated with long-term health care outcomes as seen in adults. KEY POINTS: · Little is known about activation in parents of neonates.. · Activation plays a role in health outcomes in adults.. · Larger studies are needed to explore parent activation..

Alert burden in pediatric hospitals: a cross-sectional analysis of six academic pediatric health systems using novel metrics.

BACKGROUND: Excessive electronic health record (EHR) alerts reduce the salience of actionable alerts. Little is known about the frequency of interruptive alerts across health systems and how the choice of metric affects which users appear to have the highest alert burden. OBJECTIVE: (1) Analyze alert burden by alert type, care setting, provider type, and individual provider across 6 pediatric health systems. (2) Compare alert burden using different metrics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed interruptive alert firings logged in EHR databases at 6 pediatric health systems from 2016-2019 using 4 metrics: (1) alerts per patient encounter, (2) alerts per inpatient-day, (3) alerts per 100 orders, and (4) alerts per unique clinician days (calendar days with at least 1 EHR log in the system). We assessed intra- and interinstitutional variation and how alert burden rankings differed based on the chosen metric. RESULTS: Alert burden varied widely across institutions, ranging from 0.06 to 0.76 firings per encounter, 0.22 to 1.06 firings per inpatient-day, 0.98 to 17.42 per 100 orders, and 0.08 to 3.34 firings per clinician day logged in the EHR. Custom alerts accounted for the greatest burden at all 6 sites. The rank order of institutions by alert burden was similar regardless of which alert burden metric was chosen. Within institutions, the alert burden metric choice substantially affected which provider types and care settings appeared to experience the highest alert burden. CONCLUSION: Estimates of the clinical areas with highest alert burden varied substantially by institution and based on the metric used.

The Generalizability of a Medication Administration Discrepancy Detection System: Quantitative Comparative Analysis.

BACKGROUND: As a result of the overwhelming proportion of medication errors occurring each year, there has been an increased focus on developing medication error prevention strategies. Recent advances in electronic health record (EHR) technologies allow institutions the opportunity to identify medication administration error events in real time through computerized algorithms. MED.Safe, a software package comprising medication discrepancy detection algorithms, was developed to meet this need by performing an automated comparison of medication orders to medication administration records (MARs). In order to demonstrate generalizability in other care settings, software such as this must be tested and validated in settings distinct from the development site. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine the portability and generalizability of the MED.Safe software at a second site by assessing the performance and fit of the algorithms through comparison of discrepancy rates and other metrics across institutions. METHODS: The MED.Safe software package was executed on medication use data from the implementation site to generate prescribing ratios and discrepancy rates. A retrospective analysis of medication prescribing and documentation patterns was then performed on the results and compared to those from the development site to determine the algorithmic performance and fit. Variance in performance from the development site was further explored and characterized. RESULTS: Compared to the development site, the implementation site had lower audit/order ratios and higher MAR/(order + audit) ratios. The discrepancy rates on the implementation site were consistently higher than those from the development site. Three drivers for the higher discrepancy rates were alternative clinical workflow using orders with dosing ranges; a data extract, transfer, and load issue causing modified order data to overwrite original order values in the EHRs; and delayed EHR documentation of verbal orders. Opportunities for improvement were identified and applied using a software update, which decreased false-positive discrepancies and improved overall fit. CONCLUSIONS: The execution of MED.Safe at a second site was feasible and effective in the detection of medication administration discrepancies. A comparison of medication ordering, administration, and discrepancy rates identified areas where MED.Safe could be improved through customization. One modification of MED.Safe through deployment of a software update improved the overall algorithmic fit at the implementation site. More flexible customizations to accommodate different clinical practice patterns could improve MED.Safe's fit at new sites.

Modernizing health information technology: lessons from healthcare delivery systems.

OBJECTIVE: To identify recurrent themes, insights, and process recommendations from stakeholders in US organizations during the health information technology (HIT) modernization of an existing electronic health record (EHR) to a commercial-off-the-shelf product in both resource-plentiful settings and in a resource-constrained environment, the US Indian Health Service. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen qualitative interviews with stakeholders in various organizations were conducted about HIT modernization efforts. Using a Theory of Change framework, recurring themes were identified and analyzed. RESULTS: The interviewees emphasized the importance of organizational and process revision during modernization, converting historical data, and clinical and leadership involvement. HIT implementation required technological and infrastructure redesign, additional training, and workflow reconfiguration. Motivations for modernization included EHR usability dissatisfaction, revenue enhancements, and improved clinical operations. Decision-making strategies, primarily during HIT selection, included meetings with stakeholders. Successful modernization resulted in improvements in clinical operations, patient experience, and financial outlay. DISCUSSION: Existing implementation frameworks fail to provide experiential feedback, such as implementation challenges, like data conversion, regulatory, functionality, and interoperability requirements. Regardless of the healthcare environment, HIT modernization requires the engagement of leadership and end-users during HIT selection and through all stages of the implementation to prepare people, processes, and technology. Organizations must iteratively define the technological, infrastructure, organizational, and workflow changes required for a successful HIT modernization effort. CONCLUSIONS: HIT modernization is an opportunity for organizational and technological change. Successful modernization requires a comprehensive, intentional, well-communicated, and multidisciplinary approach. Resource-constrained environments have the additional challenges of financial burdens, limited staffing, and unstable infrastructure.

Integrating and Evaluating the Data Quality and Utility of Smart Pump Information in Detecting Medication Administration Errors: Evaluation Study.

BACKGROUND: At present, electronic health records (EHRs) are the central focus of clinical informatics given their role as the primary source of clinical data. Despite their granularity, the EHR data heavily rely on manual input and are prone to human errors. Many other sources of data exist in the clinical setting, including digital medical devices such as smart infusion pumps. When incorporated with prescribing data from EHRs, smart pump records (SPRs) are capable of shedding light on actions that take place during the medication use process. However, harmoniz-ing the 2 sources is hindered by multiple technical challenges, and the data quality and utility of SPRs have not been fully realized. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the quality and utility of SPRs incorporated with EHR data in detecting medication administration errors. Our overarching hypothesis is that SPRs would contribute unique information in the med-ication use process, enabling more comprehensive detection of discrepancies and potential errors in medication administration. METHODS: We evaluated the medication use process of 9 high-risk medications for patients admitted to the neonatal inten-sive care unit during a 1-year period. An automated algorithm was developed to align SPRs with their medica-tion orders in the EHRs using patient ID, medication name, and timestamp. The aligned data were manually re-viewed by a clinical research coordinator and 2 pediatric physicians to identify discrepancies in medication ad-ministration. The data quality of SPRs was assessed with the proportion of information that was linked to valid EHR orders. To evaluate their utility, we compared the frequency and severity of discrepancies captured by the SPR and EHR data, respectively. A novel concordance assessment was also developed to understand the detec-tion power and capabilities of SPR and EHR data. RESULTS: Approximately 70% of the SPRs contained valid patient IDs and medication names, making them feasible for data integration. After combining the 2 sources, the investigative team reviewed 2307 medication orders with 10,575 medication administration records (MARs) and 23,397 SPRs. A total of 321 MAR and 682 SPR dis-crepancies were identified, with vasopressors showing the highest discrepancy rates, followed by narcotics and total parenteral nutrition. Compared with EHR MARs, substantial dosing discrepancies were more commonly detectable using the SPRs. The concordance analysis showed little overlap between MAR and SPR discrepan-cies, with most discrepancies captured by the SPR data. CONCLUSIONS: We integrated smart infusion pump information with EHR data to analyze the most error-prone phases of the medication lifecycle. The findings suggested that SPRs could be a more reliable data source for medication error detection. Ultimately, it is imperative to integrate SPR information with EHR data to fully detect and mitigate medication administration errors in the clinical setting.

Human-Based Errors Involving Smart Infusion Pumps: A Catalog of Error Types and Prevention Strategies.

Over 4000 preventable injuries due to medication errors occur each year in any given hospital. Smart pumps have been widely introduced as one means to prevent these errors. Although smart pumps have been implemented to prevent errors, they fail to prevent specific types of errors in the medication administration process and may introduce new errors themselves. As a result, unique prevention strategies have been implemented by providers. No catalog of smart pump error types and prevention strategies currently exists. The aim of this study is to review and catalog the types of human-based errors related to smart pump use identified in the literature and to summarize the associated error-prevention strategies. We searched MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Central, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) for literature pertaining to human-based errors associated with smart pumps. Studies related to smart pump implementation, other types of pumps, and mechanical failures were excluded. Final selections were mapped for error types and associated prevention strategies. A total of 1177 articles were initially identified, and 105 articles were included in the final review. Extraction of error types and prevention strategies resulted in the identification of 18 error types and ten prevention strategies. Through a comprehensive literature review, we compiled a catalog of smart pump-related errors and associated prevention strategies. Strategies were mapped to error types to provide an initial framework for others to use as a resource in their error reviews and improvement work. Future research should assess the application of the resources provided by this review.

Health Management in the Home: A Qualitative Study of Pregnant Women and Their Caregivers.

With growth in consumer health technologies, patients and caregivers have become increasingly involved in their health and medical care. Such health-related engagement often occurs at home. Pregnancy is a common condition and, for many women, their first exposure to health management practices. This study examined how pregnant women and caregivers managed health in their homes. Participants completed sociodemographic surveys and semi-structured interviews about living situation, information needs, and technology use. Using an iterative, inductive coding approach, we identified themes about health management, including the physical home, help at home, community, the virtual home, and biggest concerns. Most expectant mothers encountered everyday problems with mobility and household management. Pregnant women desired more assistance from caregivers, who often did not know how to help. Caregivers who provided help took on new roles. Many expectant families did not trust advice found online. Over half of expectant families had biggest concerns that involved the home.

Review of information technology for surgical patient care.

BACKGROUND: Electronic health records (EHRs), computerized provider order entry (CPOE), and patient portals have experienced increased adoption by health care systems. The objective of this study was to review evidence regarding the impact of such health information technologies (HIT) on surgical practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A search of Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library was performed to identify data-driven, nonsurvey studies about the effects of HIT on surgical care. Domain experts were queried for relevant articles. Two authors independently reviewed abstracts for inclusion criteria and analyzed full text of eligible articles. RESULTS: A total of 2890 citations were identified. Of them, 32 observational studies and two randomized controlled trials met eligibility criteria. EHR or CPOE improved appropriate antibiotic administration for surgical procedures in 13 comparative observational studies. Five comparative observational studies indicated that electronically generated operative notes had increased accuracy, completeness, and availability in the medical record. The Internet as an information resource about surgical procedures was generally inadequate. Surgical patients and providers demonstrated rapid adoption of patient portals, with increasing proportions of online versus inperson outpatient surgical encounters. CONCLUSIONS: The overall quality of evidence about the effects of HIT in surgical practice was low. Current data suggest an improvement in appropriate perioperative antibiotic administration and accuracy of operative reports from CPOE and EHR applications. Online consumer health educational resources and patient portals are popular among patients and families, but their impact has not been studied well in surgical populations. With increasing adoption of HIT, further research is needed to optimize the efficacy of such tools in surgical care.