This week, the articles that we have been reading at the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) discuss interesting ideas to improve patient care:
Use Artificial Intelligence to Manage Opioid Use
As the opioid crisis continues on, this article by Cami Rosso, “Using AI to Manage Opioid Use in Hospital ICUs” raises an interesting possibility – the use of artificial intelligence to manage opioid use:
“The research team of Daniel Lopez-Martinez, Patrick Eschenfeldt, Sassan Ostvar, Myles Ingram, Chin Hur and Rosalind Picard took the approach of using AI reinforcement learning (RL) because, they wrote, “RL is able to infer optimal strategies from suboptimal training examples.” According to the researchers, this is the ‘first application of reinforcement learning for deducing optimal intervention regimens to manage pain.’”
@tweetycami On using #artificialintelligence #AI to manage #opioid use Click To TweetManage the Risks of Direct Oral Anticoagulants
Although NOACs (or direct oral anticoagulants) have been shown to have a lower risk of bleeding than warfarin and have been recommended as a first line treatment for Afib patients, to ensure that risks are managed appropriately, The Joint Commission recently issued, “Sentinel Event Alert 61: Managing the risks of direct oral anticoagulants.” This infographic from The Joint Commission illustrates appropriate and timely treatment:
Play Music to Calm Nerves Before Surgery
A Penn Medicine study found music is a viable alternative to IV sedation in reducing anxiety before receiving a nerve block:
“Our findings show that there are drug-free alternatives to help calm a patient before certain procedures, like nerve blocks,” says Veena Graff, MD, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of anesthesiology and critical care. “We’ve rolled out a new process at our ambulatory surgical center to provide patients who want to listen to music with access to disposable headphones. Ultimately, our goal is to offer music as an alternative to help patients relax during their perioperative period.”
Play Music to Calm Nerves Before #Surgery #patientsafety Click To Tweet