Anaemia is common in hospice populations and associated with significant symptom burden. Guidelines recommend investigating for and treating iron deficiency (ID), but there is little evidence of this practice in palliative care populations. Our paper (published in AMRC Open Research) describes the results of investigations for and subsequent management of ID in Marie Curie Hospice Liverpool.
Our data demonstrates that iron deficiency is common and can be safely treated with intravenous iron replacement, within current guidelines, in a hospice setting. Further research should define the optimum use of this approach in palliative care patients.
I was delighted to be invited to write a guest blog for the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) website, about my role in developing podcasts for ‘Palliative Medicine’ in my role Digital Editor for the journal.
Much written about the potential to use digital tools to reform healthcare, concentrate on the short to medium term (i.e. 5- 10 years). However, many of the benefits from digital health will only be fully realised in the longer (i.e. >10 years) term. This is because benefits arising from disruptive technologies may only be achieved following the implementation of cultural, workforce and infrastructural change, which can take time to achieve.
The King’s Fund Digital Health Conference recenty took place across two days in London (11th – 12th July) and provided an opportunity for profesionals from different disciplines to discuss how digital technologies can be used to transform healthcare delivery in the long term. There were several speakers and workstream groups which covered discussion of the opportunities and challenges of these approaches, in addittion to providing many examples of current use of technological and workplace innovation.
Particular highlights for me was Rob Shaw’s (Interim Chief Executive for NHS Digital) talk about the NHS Digital’s perpective on the importance of utilising health data better to provide integrated care. Also, Nicola Perrin (Wellcome Trust) provided an overview of the ‘Understanding Pataient Data’ project, which looks to improve awareness in society (professionals and lay people) about the value of using healthcare data to support patient care. Furthermore, the Wellcome Trust this year will undertake a project which will examine public perceptions of the role of new emerging technology (e.g. artificial intelligence, machine learning) in healthcare.
Many of the talks at the conference had inter-connecting themes; highlighting the importance of forming policy to shape culture through engagement of wider society and professionals. Although there is evidence of innovative work in several areas, a lot of fragmentation is currenty present. Consequently, it is important for collaborations of partners with a shared common vision for digital health.
As an academic palliative medicine physician I am interested in the potential digital health applications to support the management of people with serious illness. If anyone is also interested in undertaking work in this area, please feel free to contact me.
Further information of the King’s Fund Digital Health Conference (and other events by the King’s Fund) can be found here:
I am currently the Digital Editor of the Palliative Medicine journal (the world’s highest ranked journal, peer reviewed scholarly journal dedicated to improving knowledge and clinical practice in the palliative care of patients with far advanced disease: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/pmj ). In this role I lead the development of podcasts to enable dissemination of the journals’ work to a wider audience. Essentially this work follows on from my foray into the podcast world through my AmiPal podcasts (https://soundcloud.com/mypal), which are podcasts about palliative care, technology and innovation.
On the 14th June I was delighted to present a poster about the development of these Palliative Medicine podcasts at the 2017 North West Annual Medical Leadership and Management Conference which took place in the AJ Bell stadium. The poster featured some initial data on the popularity of the podcasts and some download data. Essentially the podcasts are doing very well with many authors getting into the process of recording podcasts which have been well received.
The podcasts are available from most podcast app services by simply searching for ‘Palliative Medicine’. However, if you need the RSS feed to subscribe to can do find that here: http://sagepalliativemedicine.sage-publications.libsynpro.com/rss
If you’re an author of a paper published in Palliative Medicine are interested in recording a podcast, please feel free to contact me.
In this episode of MyPal Dr Amara Nwosu discusses a recent article from the BMJ by Bjorn Morten Hofmann, University College of Gjovik which poses the question of whether there is too much technology in healthcare.
In this episode of MyPal Dr Amara Nwosu provides an overview publishing in palliative care, discussing the importance of this and sharing some tips for potential authors. The audio was recorded to support an educational session as part of the Merseyside & Cheshire Palliative Care Network Audit Group.
Mahiben Maruthappu, Bruce Keogh. How might 3D printing affect clinical practice?
BMJ 2014; 349 doi: dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g7709 (Published 30 December 2014)
Nanotechnology to diagnose and monitor cancer? Nanopills and smartwatches in disease management and treatment? Sounds like science fiction but that is what researchers at Google are working on right now! Dr Ami Nwosu discusses this in more depth.
In the second episode of MyPal I the importance of research and innovation in palliative care. Catch it on SoundCloud. It’s also now available on iTunes!
This is the first episode of an exciting new project that I’m undertaking. This podcast blends discussion of technology, innovation, health, palliative care and research. This first episode provides an overview of the project and outlines what you can expect in the coming weeks.
MyPal is a podcast about technology, innovation and research relevant to Palliative Care. Come and join the conversation about these issues in a way you just might like.
Amara Nwosu 