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A New AI ‘Super Nurse’ Monitors Patients in Israeli Hospital

AHA Publisher — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 08:00:04 +0000

Brian Blum via Israel21c – Artificial intelligence can spot potential deterioration before a human nurse or doctor could, and it can predict which patients will be readmitted. Look, it’s Super Nurse! Able to monitor multiple patients in separate rooms simultaneously; staying on top of their blood pressure, pulse and vital signs; and spotting signs of deterioration even before the patients feel it themselves. This medical superhero is not human, but rather a product of artificial intelligence, advanced software algorithms, sensors and cameras. And it’s being assembled right now at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center. The creation of an AI-powered “super nurse” is the result of a decade of steady work by Ahuva Weiss-Meilik and her team in the hospital’s I-Medata center. “Our doctors and nurses can’t be everywhere,” Weiss-Meilik tells ISRAEL21c. A thought no doubt being echoed across Chinese hospitals in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak right now. The situation is made even worse by chronic staff shortages in hospitals around the world, including those in Israel. The hospital is currently conducting a trial of Weiss-Meilik’s continuous monitoring technology with 24 patients in “regular” internal-medicine wards. They have all given their consent. (Big Brother may be watching but he has permission.) Sensors check patients’ blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate, while a camera watches at all times. The data is streamed to a central viewing station where hospital staff is alerted if a change develops. If monitoring were the entire extent of Weiss-Meilik’s project, it wouldn’t be so potentially game-changing. But the I-Medata team is developing predictive algorithms that can determine, based on the camera and sensor data (a drop in blood pressure, for example), combined with information from a patient’s electronic medical record (EMR) and aggregated data, what a particular patient’s medical trajectory is most likely to be – and whether that patient should be given extra attention. AI can spot potential deterioration hours before a human nurse or doctor could. And it can tell if a patient is likely to be readmitted in the future. “No doctor, no matter how good he or she is, would be able to look at all this data and gain immediate insight,” Weiss-Meilik points out. “AI testing will eventually be a part of all hospital admissions in the future,” she predicts. Big Hospital Data Tel Aviv Medical Center– Israel’s largest acute-care facility, with 1,500 beds — has an advantage in implementing this type of big data system because it’s long been at the forefront of collecting patient data in Israel. “We have computerized medical records going 10 years back,” Weiss-Meilik says. “It’s enabled us to do this kind of research and development.” Weiss-Meilik’s team now is creating an ecosystem within the hospital “to inform and support our clinical staff.”While the artificial intelligence and algorithm development is being kept in-house, the I-Medata department has partnered with two Israeli startups. AnyVision of Holon, which specializes in face, body and object-recognition software, is powering the cameras. The company generally works in the security and surveillance sphere, including law enforcement, retail, banking and casino clients; this is AnyVision’s first foray into powering medical technology. (The company closed a $74 million Series A financing round in June 2019.) BioBeat, based in Petah Tikva, is behind the sensors. The company has developed a disposable patch worn on the skin to track such vital signs as blood pressure, oxidation rate, pulse, skin temperature and sweat. “Doctors don’t have to measure anything,” BioBeat Chief Medical Officer Arik Eisenkraft tells ISRAEL21c. All the vitals are transmitted in real time via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to the patient’s EMR as well as to the BioBeat cloud, so BioBeat can learn from the data and improve functionality. BioBeat has received US Food and Drug Administration clearance for its cuff-less non-invasive blood pressure monitoring. The company has also developed a wristwatch device for monitoring vital signs at home, Eisenkraft says. Making the Hospital More Intelligent Weiss-Meilik’s group is also working on integrating other areas of Israeli-developed AI into the hospital workflow. Medical imaging startups Zebra Medical and Aidoc both use artificial intelligence to help radiologists quickly spot problem areas. Agamon specializes in natural language processing (NLP) to make sense of unstructured text summaries in patients’ records, such as operation summaries and radiological reports. The system puts these summaries into a structured database format. “It takes a lot of human resources to do that,” explains Weiss-Meilik. “Using AI, we can open up data that was useless before in order to do advanced research.” Director-general Dr. Ronni Gamzu calls I-Medata’s work “the future of medicine.” While some patients are not connected to a monitor “because their condition does not require it,” Gamzu told Ynet, “sometimes they suddenly ‘surprise’ us and their condition starts to deteriorate. The medical staff needs systems to help them identify complex situations and to navigate through massive amounts of data.” Weiss-Meilik is the head of the medical center’s Data Science and Quality Division. She previously served as the national coordinator of the Middle East Quality in Health Care Program coordinated by Harvard University, and headed the clinical and economic performance unit at Sheba Medical Center. She received her PhD from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. “For now, we’re still at an early stage,” Weiss-Meilik tells ISRAEL21c. “But if we develop these models and get them on the market, we could improve health worldwide.” That would be a super nurse, indeed. To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

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Patients Beyond Borders Announces Top 10 Cities for Medical Tourists in 2020

AHA Publisher — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 08:00:48 +0000

Patients Beyond Borders via Newswise – America’s rising healthcare costs, in tandem with 82 million uninsured or underinsured medical consumers, have given rise to a startling trend of medical refugees. In 2020, more than two million American patients will travel to another country in search of more affordable medical treatment, up nearly tenfold from around 250,000 medical travelers just a decade ago. Newswise — Patients Beyond Borders has teamed up with Medical Departures (with nearly 100,000 medical tourism bookings to date) revealing that more than 85% of all medical travel is to a handful of safe, popular metropolitan centers around the globe. This is good news for people who think medical travel is only to far-flung, little-known destinations. Getting in and out of these large metro destinations is usually easy and inexpensive: ultra-modern airports and rail, with wide-ranging options for lodging (from luxury to budget), dining and sightseeing. Turns out these are some of the most fascinating cities on the planet. Why not return from a procedure having recuperated or vacationed in a vibrant urban setting? #10 Barcelona (Spain): Ranked the world’s 7th best healthcare nation by the World Health Organization, Spain’s medical schools and facilities are among the finest in Europe. Barcelona is home to more than a dozen internationally-accredited medical centers and clinics, serving English-speaking patients from the US, Canada, UK and Australia. Specialty patients take advantage of Barcelona’s ultra-modern facilities and skilled practitioner, while vacationers goose their budget with an afternoon of savings on light medical or dental work. Specialties: Ophthalmology, Dentistry, Cosmetic Surgery, Orthopedics, Fertility,IVF, Pediatrics Savings: 40-75% #9 Istanbul (Turkey): For travelers seeking remedies to hair loss, Turkey is best-known for affordable hair transplantation. With more than 600 registered clinics in Istanbul alone, patients from the immediate region and beyond undergo the latest treatments and technologies toward regaining a full head of hair. One of Europe’s largest vision centers (Dunyagoz) serves patients worldwide for evaluations, eyeglass prescriptions, cataracts, glaucoma and more.Specialties: Vision, Dentistry, Hair Transplant Savings: 50-70% #8 Bali (Indonesia): As one of Asia’s most popular destinations for chill vacation travel, it’s no wonder Bali’s leading medical centers look more like health spas than specialty hospitals. Savvy holiday-makers take an afternoon for a teeth whitening, MRI or Botox treatment before heading into the night. Specialties: Dentistry, Health check-ups, Screenings Savings: 50-85% #7 Seoul (South Korea): Seoul is the heart of the world’s highest per-capita rate of cosmetic treatment. The posh Gangnam District alone boasts some 500 cosmetic and aesthetic centers, offering surgical procedures of all descriptions. South Korea also leads in non-invasive strategies–from Botox to dermal fillers to laser hair removal to dental veneers–increasingly popular for people who want to improve their looks without going under the knife. Specialties: Cosmetic surgery, Aesthetic treatments Savings: 30-50% #6 Mumbai (India): One of India’s most progressive urban centers, Mumbai offers exceptional medical care at eye-popping discounts. With nearly one in seven US surgeons of Indian descent, Americans are catching on that a trip to one of Mumbai’s finest can put real money in the pocket without compromising quality of care. Some of the world’s top orthopedic and heart specialists practice in Mumbai. Specialties: Orthopedics, Cardiology Savings: 55-90% #5 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia): While most Asia-bound health travel is to India or Thailand, Malaysia is now firmly on the medical travel charts. In 2019, more than one million medical travelers will seek treatment in Malaysia, from cosmetic and dental care to complex orthopedic, spine and cardiovascular procedures. Malaysia is one of the world’s leading medical value destinations, where patients can realize up to 80% savings on a wide range of procedures and treatments in first-class hospitals and clinics. Big on preventive care, health check-ups and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are popular among patients seeking alternative treatments for common as well as complex conditions. Specialties: Orthopedics, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Savings: 45-80% #4 Escazú (Costa Rica): This vibrant, ultra-Americanized suburb of San Jose attracts dental and medical tourists from all over the world–some 65,000 every year. Clinics are known for complex restorative and cosmetic dentistry (such as implants), saving patients tens of thousands over fees at shelled out at home. Two internationally accredited full-service medical centers perform weight loss procedures, along with orthopedics and heart work. Specialties: Dentistry, cosmetic surgery, bariatrics Savings: 40-60% Escazu, Costa Rica #3 Cancun (Mexico): This resort town welcomes tens of thousands of “incidental” medical travelers annually: people taking in a light, money-saving medical or dental treatment as part of their vacation. Cosmetic surgeries and non-invasive aesthetic treatments are big here as well. While there, you can pick up quality pharmaceuticals for any valid prescription written in the United States, at deep discounts. Specialties: Dentistry, cosmetic surgery, weight loss surgery, pharma travel Savings: 40-70% #2 Budapest (Hungary): No stranger to medical tourism, Hungary’s capital and its thermal waters have been welcoming international travelers since ancient Grecian times. Budapest and its sister cities to the north (Mosonmagyaróvár and Györ) boast the highest per-capita dental clinics in the world. Europeans (and increasingly North Americans) flock there in search of low-cost care and a hydrothermal soak. Specialties: Dentistry Savings: 40-60% #1 Bangkok (Thailand): No longer just for sex change surgeries, Bangkok has become the world’s epicenter of medical tourism, welcoming more than two million cross-border patients every year. What’s not to like about recovering from a medical procedure in a world-class Thai resort hotel or spa–at unbeatable prices. Bangkok’s venerated, internationally accredited Bumrungrad International Hospital (featured on 60 Minutes and CNN’s Inside Man), welcomes tens of thousands of North American and European patients every year. Specialties: Cosmetic surgery, restorative dentistry Savings: 50-75% To read the original article click here.

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