Digital Health Coffee Time Briefing ☕

Your morning summary of digital health news, information and events to know about if you want to be “in the know”.   

???? News  

???? Researchers in Sheffield have launched a new bioresource research tissue bank that connects scientists and healthcare researchers to genetic and lifestyle information from people with and without health conditions that can be recalled for future research.   The team from the Sheffield National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, hosted by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with The University of Sheffield, are one of 18 centres across the country to join the national repository recruitment programme which has so far collected over 250,000 biological samples from people with and without health conditions across the country. Those wanting to register their interest in joining the Sheffield BioResource Bank should email sth.sheffieldbioresource@nhs.net. 

???? New research has revealed the areas in England with the longest distance to GP services, with West Devon coming out on top.The study by care experts, Guardian Carers, analysed the latest available data from the Office for National Statistics to reveal the areas with the longest average straight-line distance to their closest GP.West Devon, located in the Southwest of the country, came top on the list. West Devon households were found to be, on average, 3.98 kilometres away from their closest GP, a small margin higher than any other area in England. 

???? Despite the wide adoption and optimization of EHRs across the continuum of care, some healthcare leaders view EHR usability as a pain point. This is proven by a recent JAMA Study (Journal of the American Medical Association) that found a positive association between frontline user–rated EHR usability and EHR safety performance.  This research showed that poor EHR user experience strongly correlates with EHR-related patient safety concerns, particularly in the areas of medication alerts related to drug-drug interactions, patient allergies, duplicate orders, and excessive dosing. 

???? Homecare platform Birdie delivered over 30 million home visits in 2023, according to the company’s year in review. The review found that 265,000 family members kept a track of their loved one’s care on the Birdie family app and that 111,000 new care recipients were cared for by Birdie partners this year. 

???? Scientists are working on a new device that could lead to a reduction in the number of people who go blind from age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In a world first, researchers at Centre for Eye and Vision Research (CEVR) are using quantum technology to detect the disease in its early stages where treatment may help preserve vision.  

❓ Did you know that? 

Nearly a third (31%) of UK men surveyed are delaying putting off going to the doctors. By visiting their GPs less than once a year, men are potentially risking their long-term health, according to new research by men’s healthcare company, Numan.  Alarmingly, a fifth (20%) of men are not getting seen because they don’t want to know about any potential health problems. The findings also reveal that only 14% of men go for a check up immediately if a problem arises. A large proportion – just over two-fifths of men (41%) – will only see a doctor if they feel that it is a real necessity.  

???? What we’re reading 

Skin-interfaced electronics is gradually changing medical practices by enabling continuous and non-invasive tracking of physiological and biochemical information. With the rise of big data and digital medicine, next-generation electronic skin (e-skin) will be able to use artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize its design as well as uncover user-personalized health profiles. Recent multimodal e-skin platforms have already used machine learning algorithms for autonomous data analytics, according to a report in Nature Machine Intelligence. 

???? This week’s events 

 Happy Holidays!