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NEWS:
As COVID Continues, Can Hospitals Create Better Bed Management Through Math?
The COVID-19 pandemic shined a spotlight on a significant healthcare problem: a sudden inundation of critically ill patients can take a hospital’s bed capacity to the limit – and beyond.
“COVID threw healthcare into an enormous temporary imbalance, especially early on as hospitals struggled to manage the influx of patients,” says Sanjeev Agrawal, co-author with Mohan Giridharadas of Better Healthcare Through Math (www.leantaas.com).
“Now there are concerns that another wave of the virus will once again put hospitals and their bed capacities to the test.”
Agrawal and Giridharadas, senior executives at LeanTaaS, a software company that focuses on improving healthcare operations, say that while the pandemic may have exacerbated the problem with hospital bed capacity, it didn’t create it.
Hospitals have confronted a lack of bed space for years, struggling to figure out how to match t
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Study Links Patients Living in Disadvantaged Areas to Inadequate Screening for Obesity
Obesity is a worldwide health epidemic, and here in Missouri, more than 35% of adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previous studies have shown that socioeconomic disadvantages increase the risk of obesity. Researchers from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and MU Health Care discovered how a tool called the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) can predict a person’s obesity risk based on his or her home address. The study also discovered those at highest risk for obesity were most likely to have missing body mass index (BMI) data in their health records, indicating inadequate obesity monitoring.
“This evidence-based data has the potential to help primary care physicians identify patients who lack the experience of being a self-advocate to ensure the health care they need,” said Lincoln Sheets, MD, PhD, assistant research professor at the M
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Study Examines Cancer’s Effects on Young Women’s Employment and Finances
Cancer and its treatment can impact an individual’s ability to work, and employment disruptions can lead to financial hardships. A new study indicates that women who were diagnosed with cancer as adolescents or young adults can be especially vulnerable to these effects. The findings are published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society (ACS).
For the study, Clare Meernik, MPH, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her colleagues surveyed 1,328 young women in North Carolina and California who were diagnosed with cancer between the ages of 15 to 39 years and were employed at the time of their cancer diagnosis. Surveys were conducted a median of seven years after diagnosis, and questions in the survey assessed the impact of one’s cancer diagnosis and treatment in relation to a broad range of survivorship topics.
Survey results rev
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Biometric Data, Algorithms To Unlock Key Information About Circadian Clock
Anyone who has experienced a midafternoon energy slump or suffered from jetlag has felt the effects of their body’s circadian rhythm. This internal clock helps regulate many of our physiological processes, including sleep, metabolism, and even how the brain functions.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute anticipate a future in which a combination of smart wearables and algorithms assess each person’s circadian rhythm and provide personalized feedback as to what light, sleep, and work schedule would be ideal for their particular internal clock.
In a foundational step toward that goal, a team of engineers aims to develop reliable mathematical models that can estimate individuals’ circadian rhythms. With the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the team will also develop wearable hardware and software that incorporate various sensors capable of capturi
