Teledermatology App System Offers Efficiencies and Can Reliably Prioritize Inpatient Consults

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PHILADELPHIA A new Penn Medicine study shows that remote consultations from dermatologists using a secure smart phone app are reliable at prioritizing care for hospitalized patients with skin conditions. Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania report in JAMA Dermatology that this teledermatology process is reliable and can help deliver care more efficiently in busy academic hospitals and potentially in community hospital settings.

A national shortage and uneven distribution of dermatologists in the United States has caused scheduling concerns in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Many hospitals do not have inpatient dermatology consultative services, and those that do often have limited availability for consults after hours and on weekends.

"Dermatology support is essential for hospitalized patients, but unfortunately many hospitals lack dermatology coverage. Teledermatology may help optimize time spent by dermatologists in the inpatient setting by potentially reducing or eliminating trips to the hospital, and allowing some dermatologists to batch consultations or schedule non-urgent inpatients to be seen after discharge for outpatient appointments," said senior study author Misha Rosenbach, MD, assistant professor of Dermatology and director of the Dermatology inpatient dermatology service at Penn Medicine. "A substantial agreement between in-person and teledermatology consultants in this study demonstrates the reliability and potential of this platform."

The new study compared assessments of 50 hospitalized patients in a high acuity academic medical center, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, between a face-to-face consultation with an inpatient dermatologist and a standardized teledermatology consultation with two experienced teledermatologists.

When the inpatient dermatologist recommended a patient be seen the same day, the teledermatologists independently suggested the same course of action in 90 percent of cases. The teledermatologists agreed in 95 percent of cases where the inpatient dermatologist had recommended a biopsy. The doctors completely agreed on a diagnosis 82 percent of the time, and partially agreed in 88 percent of cases, which is in line with the standard variation expected between providers.

The team used a secure store-and-forward teledermatology smart phone app, which was developed through Penn Medicine's teledermatology program, in concert with the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). This initiative, co-led by Carrie Kovarik, MD, associate professor of Dermatology and William D. James, MD, professor of Dermatology and vice chair of the Department of Dermatology, works to improve specialty health care in underserved areas and expand dermatology access to patients locally, nationally and internationally. Dr. Kovarik has led efforts to connect doctors from around the world including those from Botswana, Uganda and Guatemala with Penn Dermatologists, to assist physicians in diagnosing and providing treatment recommendations for various skin conditions. In the United States, the Penn team works closely with the AAD to bridge dermatologists in states across the nation to nearby underserved areas nearby using the AccessDerm app. In Philadelphia, the Penn team now partners with 13 community clinics including Philadelphia Department of Health clinics; more than 400 patient consultations have been performed through the program in Philadelphia to date.

"Our study of this model demonstrated that teledermatology consultations are not only effective at distinguishing cases in need for an urgent consultation in a hospital environment, but can also streamline follow-up care for both patients and clinicians," said Dr. Kovarik.

"In addition to addressing physician shortages from a clinical standpoint, teledermatology programs are very important for vulnerable citizens in the United States and abroad," said James, past president of the American Academy of Dermatology. "It is wonderful that the impact of these teledermatology consultations continues to expand."

The Penn team also included John Barbieri, Caroline Nelson, David Margolis, MD, MSCE, PhD, and Ryan Littman-Quinn.

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Teledermatology App System Offers Efficiencies and Can Reliably Prioritize Inpatient Consults

Government secures MoU with Queen Mary University to open medical school

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The Barts Medical School is set to open in Malta following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry for Health, the Ministry for Education and Queen Mary University of London.

Addressing a public consultation meeting part of the 'Government that Listens' campaign at Mater Dei Hospital, Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said Malta had the potential to become a hub in medical studies.

"This agreement will not only serve as an economic boost to the island but will also serve as an international brand for Malta in the medical field. This project will attract the best medical professionals," he said.

Farrugia fielded question from the general public, including some coming from Gozo after a Skype chat was set up at the Gozo General Hospital.

The minister reiterated it was his ministry's intention to continue opening up health centres during this legislature in a bid to alleviate the burden from Mater Dei Hospital.

"This acute hospital should be specializing in acute medicine. But 70% of patients admitted to the emergency department are not acute cases... they do not even come with a referral from their GP," Farrugia said.

He added that as the fertility rate decreased, cancer rate increased and people live longer years, the dependency on public healthcare will increase.

"We have to provide patients with alternative places in the community or in hospitals catering for rehabilitation. We have a modern hospital that is providing quality care but is burdened with patients who should not be here because the care they require should be provided elsewhere," he said.

Farrugia said the government was already investing in primary healthcare and healthcare centres. 1.2 million were invested to equip the Floriana and Rahal Gdid centres with x-ray systems.

"The Rahal Gdid healthcare centre is just the first of a number of centres we plan to open during this legislature."

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Government secures MoU with Queen Mary University to open medical school

UM medical school opens brain research unit

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By Andrea K. Walker

5:52 p.m. EST, February 12, 2014

The University of Maryland School of Medicine announced Wednesday that it has established a program that will do in-depth scientific research on the brain.

The hope is that research done from the Brain Science Research Consortium Unit can help in the development of new treatments for neurological disorders.

Research will be done by scientists and medical professionals from many disciplines, including laboratory scientists and physician scientists.

Dr. Bankole A. Johnson, professor and chair of the department of psychiatry and behavorial science at the medical school, will head the new unit. His research expertise deals with the psychopharmacology of medications for treating addictions.

The brain research is unit is one of a number of units the school of medicine plans to create. Others will explore heart and vascular science, cancer biology and transplantation.

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UM medical school opens brain research unit

Constitutional Atty Says Expansion Of Pres Power Threatens Liberty – Jonathon Turley -The Kelly File – Video

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Constitutional Atty Says Expansion Of Pres Power Threatens Liberty - Jonathon Turley -The Kelly File
Jonathon Turley: With The Rise Of An Uber President There Could Be No Greater Danger To Individual Liberty! I Really Think The Framer Would Be Horrified Wi...

By: Mass Tea Party

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Constitutional Atty Says Expansion Of Pres Power Threatens Liberty - Jonathon Turley -The Kelly File - Video

Malones Liberty Global Reports Sales That Miss Analysts Views

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Liberty Global Plc (LBTYA), the cable company controlled by American billionaire John Malone, reported fourth-quarter sales of $4.47 billion, falling short of analysts estimates.

Sales advanced 71 percent from a year earlier, spurred by acquisitions including Virgin Media, the London-based company said in a statement yesterday. Analysts had projected $4.58 billion. The net loss attributable to Liberty Global shareholders narrowed to $121.2 million, or 31 cents a share, from $331.3 million, or $1.27 a year earlier.

Liberty Global, which has spent almost $50 billion to consolidate Europes cable industry in recent years, agreed to buy Ziggo NV, the Dutch broadband operator, for 4.9 billion euros ($6.7 billion) last month. Liberty is facing increased competition from rivals including Vodafone Group Plc (VOD) vying for the continents remaining cable assets.

We delivered our third consecutive year of more than 1 million organic subscriber additions, Chief Executive Officer Mike Fries said in the statement. The fourth quarter was our strongest quarter of the year, he said.

The company expects to deliver adjusted free cash flow of about $2 billion this year, Fries said.

Liberty Global fell 0.1 percent to $84.11 yesterday in New York.

(The company plans a conference call at 9 a.m. New York time today. Dial +1-877-545-1414.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Kristen Schweizer in London at kschweizer1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net

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Malones Liberty Global Reports Sales That Miss Analysts Views

Liberty Videocon General Insurance launches Safety Initiative in India

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Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company, a joint venture between Indias Videocon Industries Limited and Liberty Citystate Holdings Pte Limited, part of US-headquartered Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, launched their safety initiative in India.

Globally, Liberty International of which Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company is a part of promotes safety as a philosophy. The group helps to improve the safety and health of people throughout the world. Now, with the groups presence in India, it is aiming to penetrate the aspect of occupational safety and health in India.

David Melton, Managing Director Global Safety, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, which is a part of Liberty International, launched the Groups Safety Initiative in India.

Launching this initiative, David Melton said, Globally, we are reckoned as safety leaders when it comes to occupational safety. We were the first ever insurance companies fifty year back that thought of promoting safety across the globe. Today, we are quite successful because of our scientific work, innovations and interventions around the aspect of safety. Looking at Indian scenario, we believe, there is a tremendous scope for educating people at large about occupational safety, be it road safety, health safety or safety while in public life. We will address the issues and attempt to educate our intermediaries, customers and people at large on the safety issues.

Commenting on this initiative, Roopam Asthana, CEO and Director of Liberty Videocon General Insurance Company said, We are now accelerating our efforts in promoting safety aspects in India in line with our global philosophy. We will initially promote road safety in India to begin with. It is a thought leadership platform dedicated to improve road safety conditions.

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Liberty Videocon General Insurance launches Safety Initiative in India