Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing huge promise in assisting with early diagnosis of dementia, which would yield clear benefits in optimising the quality of life of those with dementia and their carers. In this review, the authors provide an overview of AI technology, its applications and implications for clinical practice. Consideration is given to ethical issues and future challenges.
A lack of communication between junior doctors and phlebotomists means untaken blood tests are often not recognised until late in a junior doctor's day, resulting in additional hours worked, delays in patient management, and potentially avoidable handover of additional work to oncall doctors.We set out to improve communication, with an aim that ward doctors should be made aware of patients who have not been successfully bled by phlebotomists by 1:00pm. By introducing a formal handover clipboard in a designated ward space, we facilitated communication between phlebotomists and doctors, and minimised the potential for unrecognised "missed" blood tests.Our intervention was met with approval; 88% of junior doctors surveyed stated they found the clipboards useful, and 74% have noticed an improvement in communication, working efficiency and better patient safety. Post-intervention, junior doctors knew about 70% of booked blood tests that had not been taken by 1:00pm, compared to 26% pre-intervention. By allowing the recognition of missed blood tests to be noted early enough in the day for repeat samples to be taken, and the results to be acted upon, we feel our intervention has been a success. As a group of new foundation doctors we have felt empowered that as a result of recognising a problem, implementing simple changes, and monitoring results we have made a genuine improvement to multi-disciplinary team working, workload of junior doctors, and patient safety. ProblemWe have identified an ongoing problem in Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK regarding the communication between the junior doctors and phlebotomists. Patients are regularly not being bled by phlebotomists for various reasons; the patient may be away from the bedside during the phlebotomy round, or phlebotomists may struggle to take blood from patients with difficult IV access.However, junior doctors often don't find out about missed samples until late in the day when they go to check the day's blood results.This often means that there is not enough time to bleed the patients and get results back before the end of the working day. This can be dangerous for patients since it means that important treatment can be delayed. Often it also leads to longer hours worked by doctors if bloods need to be repeated and treatment initiated later in the day.Additionally, this can mean an increase in the workload handed over to the already busy on-call team in the evenings.There is a clear need to improve phleobotomists handover to junior doctors about patients who haven't been bled that day.Aim: Junior doctors should be made aware of patients who have not been successfully bled by phlebotomists by 1pm.
Objective: To increase the provision of clinical skills training during their psychiatry placement by providing a new teaching course to enhance both their clinical knowledge and communication skills. Method: We delivered a pilot teaching course consisting of five workshops (incorporating facilitated, ‘near peer’ role-play) during the students’ psychiatry placement. Qualitative and quantitative feedback was collected pre- and post-course to allow for development of the course. Results: Data collected indicated that all students found the course a valuable addition to their usual teaching. They indicated that their confidence in their ability to assess patients with common clinical problems improved. Conclusions: This trainee-led course was easily integrated into the curriculum and received positive feedback from students. It may have enhanced students’ confidence and readiness for exams but this will require further examination of objective assessments and ongoing research to establish this.
AimsThe Royal College of Psychiatrists Neuroscience Project was established to promote greater integration of modern neuroscience into psychiatric training and practice. Regional “Neuronets” are being established to develop local learning opportunities. As the Southwest Neuronet, we sought to establish a high quality and sustainable regional educational event promoting modern neuroscience in psychiatry.MethodWe developed and ran two events in collaboration with the Neuroscience Project, a whole day in-person event in September 2019 and a half day online event in January 2021. Attendees were invited from the Southwest with the latter event being shared more widely through other “Neuronets”. Both featured talks by leading experts in the neuroscience of psychiatry. The first was themed around “Neuroscience from the lab to the clinic”, building on basic research methodologies to their applications in clinical psychiatry. Our pandemic era online event, “Neuroscience of psychosis”, was structured around an evolving clinical case. Both featured interactive elements using audience polling technology to gather views and collate questions. Feedback was gathered through an online survey with individual session ratings and event ratings.Result154 people attended the in-person event from across the South West Division. This included psychiatry trainees, consultants and a small number of other mental health professionals. 382 people signed up to our online event with 262 attending live and others watching recorded sessions. Feedback response rates were 42% and 33% respectively. Feedback on the practical arrangements was highly positive, particularly highlighting pre-event communication. Attendees valued the high calibre of speakers and particularly rated topics of psychiatric genetics, novel antidepressants, and autoimmune psychosis. Environmental sustainability was a prominent theme in our first event with support for our paperless approach but highlighted further potential to reduce waste associated with catering. Overall, attendees valued the opportunity to build on knowledge of basic research techniques but also wished to see greater focus on clinical applications of neuroscience, which we had responded to with the inclusion of a clinical case to frame our online event.ConclusionThese events provide a prototype for low-cost regional neuroscience in psychiatry education events, in-person or online. Sustainability in terms of cost, human resources for organisation, and environmental impact are all important considerations for such events. We plan to continue to run these annually, forming part of the legacy of the Neuroscience Project. In line with feedback received, we seek to maximise the clinical relevance but also share novel research techniques encountered in the literature.
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