Online treatment could help thousands with chronic knee pain

Melbourne: Researchers at the University of Melbourne are calling on health insurers and government to support new remotely delivered treatment models – including Skype consultations – for people suffering chronic knee pain. They have developed an online treatment that has dramatically improved symptoms and functioning for people suffering knee osteoarthritis, the main cause of chronic knee pain. Research trial findings published today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, suggest online delivery is the key to greatly improve patient access to effective non-drug treatments.

Tablet devices can enhance therapies for agitation among patients with dementia

Harvard: A pilot study led by Ipsit Vahia, a member of the HMS faculty of psychiatry and medical director of Geriatric Psychiatry Outpatient Services at McLean Hospital, suggests that the use of tablet computers is both a safe and potentially effective approach to managing agitation among patients with dementia. The findings were published in the online version of The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. “Tablet use as a nonpharmacologic intervention for agitation in older adults, including those with severe dementia, appears to be feasible, safe and of potential utility,” said Vahia. “Our preliminary results are a first step in developing much-needed empirical data for clinicians and caregivers on how to use technology such as tablets as tools to enhance care and also for app developers working to serve the technologic needs of this population.”

Can These Artificial Intelligence Apps Improve Mental Health?

Columbia: More than 20 percent of Americans will have symptoms of depression or anxiety this year, but only one in five of them will get adequate treatment. Increasingly, people are turning to smart phone apps for help. There’s only one problem: none of the thousands of mental health apps available have so far been adequately tested to see if they provide relief.

Swedish medical university launches a MOOC in e-health

Karolinska Institute is launching a massive open online course (MOOC) in the subject e-health. “Sweden is way ahead of the game because we have a relatively large amount of experience of using IT in healthcare. There is a great deal of accumulated knowledge here that we now want to share”, says Professor Sabine Koch, the course coordinator.

Swedish medical university launches a MOOC in e-health

Karolinska Institutet, which is a world leading medical university, is now disseminating its unique knowledge with the launch of a massive open online course (MOOC) in the subject e-health. This is an area in which Sweden and Karolinska Institutet are seen as role models. 

Using email for healthcare professionals to contact each other

Cochrane: Email is now a popular method of communication but it is not so commonly used in health care. We wanted to discover how the use of email by healthcare professionals to communicate with each other might affect patients, healthcare professionals and health services. We were also interested in how it might fit into health systems.

The COACH Program delivers personal care from a distance for heart patients

Melbourne University. Australia: A medical coaching program developed at the University of Melbourne for patients with cardiovascular disease and/or type 2 diabetes successfully reduced risk factors in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations.