As a physician, I was taught to appreciate the clinical importance of human touch for our physical and mental health. As a human being, I worry about its loss. And as a dermatologist, I know what that loss may mean for the loneliest and most vulnerable among us.
While AI has already had a significant impact in the automation of tedious tasks, the less-explored but tremendous potential to perform reliable diagnosis and treatment will face significant challenges in adoption and model reliability.
Emerson and Leominster hospitals are now struggling with an influx of patients as Steward's collapse and the closure of its hospitals continues to send shockwaves through already overburdened emergency departments. In September, four hospitals closest to Nashoba and Carney Hospital in Dorchester, the other closed facility, saw the largest increases in ER patients statewide compared to the same month in 2023, according to a Boston Globe analysis of statewide hospital data. Leominster hospital, which is owned by UMass Memorial Health, reported a 20% increase, more than any other hospital in Massachusetts. Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, about five miles northwest of Carney, in Jamaica Plain, reported a 14% increase.
Since older adults have been more severely affected by acute COVID-19, researchers have hypothesized that older adults may have worse long COVID symptoms as well. But according to new research published in the Annals of Neurology, an official journal of the American Neurological Association, Northwestern Medicine researchers found on an average of 10 months after COVID-19 onset, younger (ages 18-44) and middle-aged (ages 45-64) adults had worse neurologic symptoms of long COVID than adults 65 and older.
In an industry overburdened by regulatory requirements and financial constraints, patient experience often takes a backseat. Many healthcare providers are caught in a cycle of reactive care, treating symptoms rather than addressing the underlying causes of inefficiency. Patients often wait weeks for essential test results, if they receive them at all.