ISDM E-Newsletter Jan 2022

I wish all ISDM members a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2022. It is my custom every New Year to review activities and highlights of the previous year and to try to make some technology predictions for the coming year. 

As in 2020, the last year has been an exceptional time and hugely influential in the future of digital medicine applications. The Coronavirus pandemic has continued to accelerate the demand for and development of digital solutions to address the global challenges and pressures on public health. I hope in this issue of the ISDM E-Newsletter for 2022 to reflect on some of these developments and share with you my thoughts on what 2022 is likely to offer.

During 2021 we launched Digimed TV and ran a large number of international webinars and panel discussions on a range of digital medicine, health and well-being topics. All of these webinars have been recorded and can be accessed on both the ISDM EU web site at http://www.isdm.eu/isdmwebinars.html as well as a more comprehensive list on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ8yvoc3E3xvs0M_9JqYBIpIfnnVrtZX_

I am planning to continue this series of webinars in 2022 with invited expert panellists and if you would like to be considered as a speaker or receive invitations to the webinar series, email me at david@davidwortley.com.

London International Patient Services (LIPS) Masterclasses

In the middle of the year, we began a collaboration with London International Patient Services to host and facilitate a series of online masterclasses with CPD accreditation. The series of masterclasses is planned to continue in 2022 and will include international experts from Penn Medicine in the USA.

For details of upcoming events, please contact Lorraine Davison

Zenith Global Health Conferences

ISDM has been supporting the Zenith Global Health Conferences organised and run by Zenith CEO Mary Akangbe. There was a hybrid international conference held in Lagos in June and a further webinar in November as part of the Zenith Global Health International Awards ceremony held in London on the same day.

For access to recordings of these webinars and events and for more details of Zenith Global Health and the excellent work they are doing in Africa, please contact Mary Akangbe.

Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) UK-China Digital Health Webinar

On January 11th & 12th, The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) hosted expert panel discussions on the digital health work being done in the UK and China. There were some outstanding presentations on a range of topics related to the rapid digital transformations taking place in both countries.

From a personal perspective, the stand-out presentations came from Joe Harrison, the CEO of Milton Keynes University Hospital, who outlined the strategic role of digital technologies in transforming services for both patients and clinicians, delivering better outcomes, reducing costs and optimising the use of assets. 

Alexander NG of China’s TenCent company, developers of the ubiquitous WeChat application spoke about the portable healthcare assistant services available to WeChat users. The slide above shows the digital tools available now and planned for the future. This presentation showed the impact of COVID-19 on accelerating and transforming the citizen’s involvement in and access to healthcare information.

Also very impressive was Feng Zhang’s presentation on the internet hospital of the future – a strategic vision for the use of digital health technologies to engage citizens in personal health management and to provide on-demand access to online and offline services outside of the physical hospital environment.

In the showcase section of the webinar, Simon Rasalingham of Behold.ai, spoke eloquently about his company’s work in developing the use of AI in clinical diagnostics to tackle serious problems with medical imaging backlogs and shortages of trained radiologists.

Click here to access the recording of Webinar Day One

I hope to be able to share the recording of Webinar Day 2 as soon as it is available.

Digital Medicine Predictions for 2022

At the beginning of every new year, I like to offer some thoughts on the key technologies which are likely to have an impact on business and society in the coming year.

 At the beginning of 2021, I outlined the following thoughts on key technologies for the coming year. I tried to illustrate what I saw as the most important technology trends for 2021 in the diagram below :-

At the beginning of last year, before COVID-19, I had envisaged that the advances in all the key technologies shown above would lead to greater integration and a significant shift from silo applications that support the patient-clinician relationship towards technology ecosystems and partnerships in which these technologies would combine and communicate to deliver more complete and comprehensive solutions.

My perception at the beginning of 2021 was that, influenced by the pressing challenges of COVID-19, the technology developments in 2020 had focused on silo based solutions targeted at specific problems.

Reflecting on 2021, I can see strong evidence of a much more cohesive, technology ecosystem evolving as a basis for sustainable healthcare systems of the future where we will have to adjust to living with COVID-19, its variants and other future pandemics which seem inevitable. A good example of this is the presentation slide from Feng Zhang on the Internet Hospital of the Future shown earlier.

Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Medicine, Health and Well-Being

There is no doubt that the pandemic has accelerated the development and implementation of digital medicine solutions in 2021, particularly tele-medicine and remote patient care.

There are 2 specific trends which I would like to highlight as being a significant pointer to likely developments in 2022.

Preventative Healthcare Digital Medicine Solutions

Although I have written about the importance of preventative healthcare on many occasions, the reality of human psychology and the legacy of medical practices has meant that preventative healthcare has been sadly neglected and under-prioritised. As a consequence, many lifestyle related conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cardio-vascular and pulmonary conditions have placed large sections of the population in the high-risk category for Covid-19.

Those digital solutions such as wearable devices and mobile apps designed to encourage exercise and better diet will become increasingly important and popular. It is likely that this trend could also see the further development of win-win technology enabled ecosystems that bring together the common interests of citizens, clinicians, employers, family, communities and insurers in ways which benefit the future sustainability of public health services.

Digital Therapeutics and Rehabilitation

For those unfortunate enough to have contracted COVID-19, those with chronic medical conditions such as COPD, diabetes, dementia etc and those people recovering from strokes and accident injuries, there are some major advances in the development and clinical validation of digital therapeutic and rehabilitation solutions.

These technologies facilitate greater personal health management and an environment in which patients can manage their own treatment outside of a hospital or clinical facility. Digital Therapeutics, rehabilitation and personal health management solutions such as the Rehability product from Imaginary and the telehealth offerings from Spirit Healthcare are very important for easing the burden on public health services and offering new added value services to facilities such as care homes.

Hippocratic Oath and a Patients Charter

On January 5th, Medical Futurist Bertalan Mesko MD PhD published a very interesting and relevant article entitled “An Upgraded Hippocratic Oath Is Needed In The Digital And A.I. Era”. You can read the article in full on Linkedin here. The essence of the article was that digital technologies including artificial intelligence have totally transformed the role and responsibilities of medical professionals in society.

His suggested revised oath is based on 7 key principles :-

1.      Patient inclusion

2.      Healthcare shift from treatment to prevention

3.      Acknowledgement of technologies

4.      Recognition of life-lone learning

5.      Inclusion of an equal-level partnership

6.      Addressing privacy concerns

7.      The use of AI in medicine

Bertalan’s suggested revised oath is shown below :-

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant: 

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians, patients and researchers in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the healthy and sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will treat my patients in an equal-level partnership, and I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will embrace life-long learning to constantly improve my knowledge and skills to be able to use any technologies with scientific evidence for the benefit of my patients.

I will respect the privacy of my patients and their data, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will help prevent disease whenever I can with my knowledge and available technologies for prevention is preferable to cure. 

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

The Case for a Citizens Healthcare Charter

Currently, to the best of my knowledge, there is no such thing as a “Citizen’s Oath or Charter” related to healthcare but I believe that there is a compelling case to create a set of principles for the healthcare rights and responsibilities of citizens. The present vaccination campaigns are a perfect example of the challenges involved in balancing the needs of the individual citizen and those of society. We live in a world striving to provide equitable healthcare as a basic human right at a time when there is no discrimination between those who adopt a responsible attitude to personal health management and those who knowingly put themselves and others at risk.

This is a very sensitive and contentious issue which has parallels across other aspects of society. As an example, motor car insurance costs are linked to risk of accident claims. As a consequence, those demographics which have historically presented a greater risk e.g. young drivers, have to pay substantially higher premiums until they can demonstrate a “no claims” track record. Medical insurance taken out for holidays operates in a similar way but public health services have been designed in principle to provide free care to everyone who needs it regardless of their risk category or lifestyle choices.

Just as technology is offering drivers who can prove good behaviours lower premiums, we are seeing Medical Insurers such as Vitality Life offering wearable devices like the latest Apple Watch to customers who can show regular exercise practices. 

Technology has transformed the rights and responsibilities of clinicians to their patients and to society as a whole and I believe that it has also created a societal need for a Citizen Oath or Charter to establish the healthcare rights and responsibilities of citizens. This charter should recognise the value to both the individual and society of personal healthcare data. Those who are willing and able to use wearable devices to track their physical activity and vital signs should not only be rewarded for sharing this data for the benefit of others but they should also benefit from the fact that clinicians will be able to anticipate and diagnose problems at a personal level.

If you have a view on this sensitive subject or some suggestions for the wording, please email me at david@davidwortley.com.

Memories in VR and Games in Healthtech Podcast Recording

Last year was interviewed by Ivan Dunskiy for a Healthtech Beat podcast where we discussed how I became involved in the use of technology for personal health management , my work as a Vice President of ISDM and how digital therapeutics, gamification and virtual reality can support mental health.

You can also click here to watch the video recording on YouTube

Digital Medicine Journal Special Edition on Biological Engineering

Submissions are welcomed for a special edition of the Digital Medicine Journal on the theme of Biological Engineering. Articles are peer-reviewed and publishing is free. If you are interested in publishing your work, please contact me for more details.

This special issue will be featured in the Digital Medicine Journal and will be published in Jun. 2022.

Digital Medicine, a publication of International Society of Digital Medicine (ISDM) , is a peer-reviewed journal published in an open volume model. The scope of publication of the magazine covers the medical imaging research, digital and information technology, human and digital anatomy related research, computer-aided design/manufacturing/analysis technology in clinical application research, artificial intelligence application, digital hospital construction and management, bioengineering, radiological diagnosis and radiotherapy, regional medical collaboration and information resource sharing database construction, telemedicine consultation and education and other sub-disciplines.

The deadline for submissions of manuscript is 28, Feb. 2022. If required, we may extend the timeline for submission of manuscript. You can submit your manuscript at : https://lnkd.in/dcaZtQeV

If you are interested and want help with an article, please email me at david@davidwortley.com

The criteria for the different types of articles is shown below:-

Future Events Program and Speaker Invitations

I plan to continue organising webinars supplemented by live on-line interviews with extraordinary people involved in digital medicine. These interviews are intended to both educate and inspire, especially the younger generation interested in a career in medicine. There are some upcoming events which may be of interest and I have put together a selection of such events below:-

If you would like to be considered as a speaker or an expert panel member please drop me an email at david@davidwortley.com with a brief summary of your involvement in digital medicine. The interviews scheduled will be by invitation only.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are personal.