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Patient Safety must be Central to the Design, Development and Rollout of Electronic Patient Record (EPR) Systems

An EPR system brings together different patient information in one place, making it easier to access for healthcare professionals. This information can include patients' own notes, test results, observations by a range of different clinicians and prescribed medications.

When safely implemented, EPR systems can help to support and improve care and treatment. However, in recent years there has been growing awareness of the significant patient safety risks also associated with their implementation and use.

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ChatGPT Shows Promise in Answering Patients' Questions to Urologists

The groundbreaking ChatGPT chatbot shows potential as a time-saving tool for responding to patient questions sent to the urologist's office, suggests a study in the September issue of Urology Practice®, an Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

The artificial intelligence (AI) tool generated "acceptable" responses to nearly one-half of a sample of real-life patient questions, according to the new research by Michael Scott, MD, a urologist at Stanford University School of Medicine.

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Survey: Most Americans Comfortable with AI in Healthcare

Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us - from smart home devices to entertainment and social media algorithms. But is AI okay in healthcare? A new national survey commissioned by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center finds most Americans believe it is, with a few reservations.

The national poll of 1,006 people found:

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European Artificial Intelligence Act Comes into Force

The European Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), the world's first comprehensive regulation on artificial intelligence, enters into force. The AI Act is designed to ensure that AI developed and used in the EU is trustworthy, with safeguards to protect people's fundamental rights. The regulation aims to establish a harmonised internal market for AI in the EU, encouraging the uptake of this technology and creating a supportive environment for innovation and investment.

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AI can Help Rule out Abnormal Pathology on Chest X-Rays

A commercial artificial intelligence (AI) tool used off-label was effective at excluding pathology and had equal or lower rates of critical misses on chest X-ray than radiologists, according to a study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Recent developments in AI have sparked a growing interest in computer-assisted diagnosis, partly motivated by the increasing workload faced by radiology departments, the global shortage of radiologists and the potential for burnout in the field.

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Generative AI can Not yet Reliably Read and Extract Information from Clinical Notes in Medical Records

It may someday be possible to use Large Language Models (LLM) to automatically read clinical notes in medical records and reliably and efficiently extract relevant information to support patient care or research. But recent research from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health using ChatGPT-4 to read medical notes from Emergency Department admissions to determine whether injured scooter and bicycle riders were wearing a helmet finds that LLM can't yet do this reliably.

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What Does the EU's Recent AI Act Mean in Practice?

The European Union's law on artificial intelligence came into force on 1 August. The new AI Act essentially regulates what artificial intelligence can and cannot do in the EU. A team led by computer science professor Holger Hermanns from Saarland University and law professor Anne Lauber-Rönsberg from Dresden University of Technology has examined how the new legislation impacts the practical work of programmers. The results of their analysis will be published in the autumn.

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New AI Tool Predicts Risk for Chronic Pain in Cancer Patients

A third of cancer patients face chronic pain - a debilitating condition that can dramatically reduce a person's quality of life, even if their cancer goes into remission.

Although doctors have some tools for addressing chronic pain, figuring out who is most at risk for developing it is no easy feat. But a new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Florida and other institutions, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict which breast cancer patients are most at risk for developing chronic pain.

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AI Opens Door to Safe, Effective New Antibiotics to Combat Resistant Bacteria

In a hopeful sign for demand for more safe, effective antibiotics for humans, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a new drug that already is showing promise in animal trials.

Publishing their results in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the scientists describe using a large language model - an AI tool like the one that powers ChatGPT - to engineer a version of a bacteria-killing drug that was previously toxic in humans, so that it would be safe to use.

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North Cumbria Integrated Care Chooses Alcidion as Preferred EPR Supplier

The trust, which provides hospital and community health care for approximately half a million people, has made a clinically-led decision to use Alcidion's Miya Precision platform. The modular EPR will enhance digital maturity and will support clinicians in the delivery of high quality, safe care for patients.

Intuitive design, ease of use, and interoperability with specialist systems that NCIC wishes to retain, were key benefits recognised by the trust's EPR evaluation team, which represented all services, at all levels, across the trust.

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