Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Pediatrics / 13.05.2021

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kristina Aspvall | Psychologist, PhD Eva Serlachius MD PhD Adjunct professor Professor David Mataix-Cols, PhD Karolinska Institutet Department of Clinical Neuroscience Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Center Stockholm MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The problem we were trying to solve is the shortage of specialist Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for children and adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). CBT is the first line treatment for children and adolescents with OCD but is a highly specialist treatment rarely available outside large medical centres, typically located in big cities. Previous work by our group and others had shown that it is possible to deliver CBT via the internet in the form of a self-help programme with minimal support from a clinician. The clinician can be located anywhere and provide asynchronous support via a built-in messaging system. Parental support is a key component of the treatment. In essence, the parents take over as the child’s main therapist, under the guidance of the expert clinician.  (more…)
Education, Nursing / 18.02.2021

Though it is not always necessary to have clear-cut goals for your career, it does wonders for your efforts if you know the general vicinity of where you want to end up. When you know this, you can make the right decisions both in your career and in your personal life to help you achieve your goals. In most professions, this is still very subjective, but if you work in healthcare (particularly as a physician or a nurse), then your way forward is rather simple. You still have plenty of options and opportunities to customize your career, both in terms of what you do and where you do it, but because of the sheer amount of training necessary, it is a good idea to be confident in your career choices from the outset. This guide will help you to track where you want to go in your nursing career and see your goals successfully attained. Just remember to take your time, mind your health and wellbeing, and never give up:

Know Your Options

The most important part of starting a new career is to know your options. It is not always easy, especially if your career is new or subjective, but in careers like nursing, your choices are all available on the table. You cannot start a new nursing role because the state and the government need to ratify that role first. It does put some constrictions, but many would admit knowing all their options makes it much easier to find their place. You can always customize your career in small ways but knowing the roles available at the apex of your career can help keep your efforts focused. (more…)
Author Interviews, Surgical Research, Telemedicine / 17.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Leonardo Mattos, PhD Head of Biomedical Robotics Lab Advanced Robotics Department Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Genova, Italy MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We have been working on robotic microsurgery for several years, and have developed robotic technology for it that is getting ready for use on humans. Then, 5G started to become a reality here in Italy, and we wanted to test if it could be used to enable remote telesurgery. So we joined forces with Vodafone Italia to realize this study and proof of concept demonstration. Telesurgery has been a dream for over 20 years, and has been demonstrated already back in 2001. However, the wide scale adoption of the technology has been limited by many factors, including the limited availability of surgical robots and the lack of a telecommunication network that is fast and reliable enough for such operation. Recent technological progress is changing this scenario, with surgical robots being used in hospitals around the world and high-performance telecommunications system becoming widely available. This study shows that telesurgery is now feasible using the newest 5G telecommunication networks, enabling us to consider a large scale adoption of the technology.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Melanoma, Nature, Technology / 23.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Professor Harald Kittler, MD ViDIR Group, Department of Dermatology Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  What types of skin cancers were assessed? (melanoma, SCC, Merkel etc). Response: Some researchers believe that AI will make human intelligence dispensable. It is, however, still a matter of debate how exactly AI will influence diagnostic medicine in the future. The current narrative is focused on a competition between human and artificial intelligence. We sought to shift the direction of this narrative more towards human/AI collaboration. To this end we studied the use-case of skin cancer diagnosis including the most common types of skin cancer such as melanoma, basal cell- and squamous cell carcinoma. The initial idea was to explore the effects of varied representations of AI support across different levels of clinical expertise and to address the question of how humans and machines work together as a team. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Duke, Telemedicine / 15.06.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Matthew J. Crowley, MD Core Investigator, Durham Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT) Affiliated Investigator, VA Office of Rural Health Staff Physician, Endocrinology Section, Durham VA Health Care System Elizabeth Kobe, BS Medical Student Durham VA Health Care System Duke University School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? With whom were the telehealth sessions performed? (MDs, PAs, Dieticians etc). Response: Diabetes management in rural populations is especially challenging due to limited access to specialty care and self-management programs. Telehealth is a potential strategy for extending high-quality diabetes care to rural areas. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has a robust Home Telehealth (HT) system that is currently used for telemonitoring patient blood glucose values. In order to address the challenges of managing diabetes in rural areas in a clinically feasible manner, we strategically designed an intensive diabetes management intervention – Advanced Comprehensive Diabetes Care (ACDC) – for delivery using existing VHA HT infrastructure and clinical staffing. ACDC is a 6-month telehealth intervention that combines telemonitoring with module-based self-management support and medication management. ACDC is delivered entirely by existing clinical staff (a clinical HT nurse and a medication manager (typically a PharmD)) through bimonthly, 30-minute calls. Our initial randomized controlled trial found that ACDC improved HbA1c by a clinically and statistically significant  -1.0% relative to usual care at 6 months, while also improving blood pressure and diabetes self-care. Our goal with the present work was to improve diabetes care in clinical practice for rural Veterans whose type 2 diabetes remained uncontrolled despite receiving available services. To this end, we partnered with the VA Office of Rural Health to implement ACDC into VA sites across the country with large rural populations.  (more…)