News that is interesting to me, and possibly to you
From WIRED.com, the application of DNA engineering not only to the sequencing and reading the DNA and RNA of viruses and organisms, but now to CREATE “tiny blobs of programmable tissue.”
REALLY?
Watch it above, and read it yourself: https://www.wired.com/story/synthetic-biology-plan/
UCHealth, like all health systems across the state of Colorado, are following the guidance of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). As the guidelines change (sometimes daily!) we follow the guidelines. Our supply of COVID-19 Vaccine is closely tracked, and each next shipment depends on our adherence to guidelines.
We are now opening up vaccination signups to segments of the general public beyond health care workers. See the CDPHE guidelines here: https://covid19.colorado.gov/for-coloradans/vaccine/vaccine-for-coloradans. Based on the state’s plan, UCHealth is focusing efforts on vaccinations for people 70 years old and older. You do not need to be a UCHealth patient in order to get vaccinated.
Keep in mind that most health systems in Colorado are working on vaccine distribution. Please first check with your primary care provider or primary health system. For those over 70 with interest in getting their vaccine from UCHealth,
This process has worked well for our first 37,000 COVID-19 vaccinations, and we plan on scaling up further, as vaccine availability improves.
Some may criticize us for using an electronic patient portal and perhaps leaving out those without access to the internet. (I have even heard the term “digitalism.” However, looking that up, it seems to mean “being poisoned by digitalis from the foxglove plant.” Hmm. But we digress.)
At the same time, we’re putting plans in place to ensure that those without access to a computer or smartphone also have access to the vaccine. Through phone hotlines, clinics that target low-income areas of the state, and outreach to underserved communities, we aim to provide the vaccine fairly to everyone. Some of these efforts have already begun.
Our main point from using our patient portal was that, using our existing infrastructure where we already have nearly 1 million patients, we could move quickly, filter our patients by age, and create and send invitations thousands at a time. This contrasts with those who might have to postal-mail invitations or make phone calls and set up (and staff-up!) a phone bank, that could take days and weeks.
We launched the invitation and scheduling process over one weekend (thank you and sorry to our IT and project leaders who built this) and offered vaccines the next weekday after receipt of our first batch. I’m so grateful to work with such amazing colleagues and their amazing teams, and grateful that we have an existing information technology infrastructure that allows this. The EHR is our superpower.
Fox31 news (patients 70+): https://kdvr.com/news/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine/uchealth-patients-over-70-start-getting-vaccinated/
The Coloradoan: https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2021/01/05/covid-19-colorado-next-up-vaccine-heres-what-know/4127958001/
9news (mass vaccination): https://www.9news.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vaccine/colorado-hospital-systems-get-ready-for-mass-vaccinations/73-3f1a2fbb-df90-4007-8f1d-35c372c71414
KOAA news (mobile clinic):
https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/uc-health-goes-mobile-with-covid-19-vaccine-in-colorado-springs
UCHealth mobile vaccine clinic: https://www.uchealth.org/today/older-adults-receive-covid-19-vaccine-at-home-through-mobile-clinic/
UCHealth older adult vaccine news: https://www.uchealth.org/today/older-adults-rejoice-as-they-begin-getting-coronavirus-vaccines/
CMIO’s take? We are excited to be part of the solution for our community throughout Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region!
Because there are no cameramen allowed to capture video of live soccer matches, an AI cameraman tracks the action by following the round ball around the soccer pitch. Well, a referee’s bald head is very attractive to the AI cameraman; this ruins the day of many soccer fans. So sorry.
This is priceless and also reassuring that we are not yet all out of a job.
Perhaps the image of the year. Control group vs Vaccine group in the Pfizer trial: see the red line COMPLETELY FLATTEN at 10 days.
The Pfizer vaccine flat-out works. Read the New England Journal of Medicine article yourself; open access:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2034577
But, what’s the TL;DR?
SO COOL. As Michelle Barron MD, our infection prevention specialist states: “I would have been happy with a vaccine that is 50% effective, like the flu shot some years. This one is 95% effective.”
Wow. Hang in there everybody.
Covid-19 Vaccine! I got mine! And University of Colorado Hospital is set up to give over 1000 doses per day just at our hospital.
As you know, Covid-19 vaccine is out in the wild. Colorado received the first shipment earlier this week, and we at UCHealth received the first 17,000 doses. We set up an infrastructure to schedule vaccinations through My Health Connection, our patient portal. We sent out over 10,000 invitations this week, and already 5000 health care workers have already booked their appointment. IN 48 HOURS! Never have I ever heard of something moving this fast. 97% of physicians/providers state their willingness and intent to be vaccinated.
Among my colleagues, many of us were hitting “refresh” waiting for our invite to schedule the vaccine. Last night, I was super excited receive my invite. Woo! So organized the portal ensures you book both appointments at the same time. Super simple!
Then, super easy on arrival; we use our patient portal to e-check in, verify my demographics, read the consent form for the vaccine, so that my check in can be super simple and super quick. Yes!
And here we are! 8 check-in stations humming smoothly. Everyone masked up, smiling, everyone so excited to be part of DOING SOMETHING to fight back against the pandemic. Bam!
Here we are in our auditorium. Sixteen vaccination stations, with appointments every 10 minutes, and vaccine service hours from 5am through 9pm. I calculate our capacity to vaccinate about 1000 people a day. This just at UCH; we have 9 other vaccine locations throughout UCHealth’s hospitals in Steamboat, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak, also actively vaccinating. Our goal: to administer our entire received batch before Christmas day. Zowie!
I got mine! 15 minutes socially distanced in the auditorium to observe for immediate reaction, and then done! In and out in about 30 minutes! Woo!
As you know, the FDA and CDC guidance is: Healthcare workers and long term care residents and staff first (winter), then high risk general public (spring) and then general public (summer). We are getting started, and have infrastructure now to deliver shots just a quickly as possible. We anticipate vaccinating up to 20% of all people of the State of Colorado. Hope to see you here soon!
CMIO’s take? I am NOT throwin’ away MY SHOT! (could it be there is a new ukulele song/rap? … stay tuned!)
First, go listen to the story. It is only 10 minutes and worth it.
Then
Here
Are
My
Observations.
There. Just wanted to give you some space to listen and then come back. Here’s my take. I did this originally on twitter, but it turns out, I need lessons on creating an easily connectable twitter thread (yikes, another thing to learn and master).
This Podcast is excellent.
@Doctor_V is spot on. Agree: industrialization of docs means there is no time for most docs to tinker with test tubes in the back office of their busy clinic. Even academic medical centers find the legendary ‘triple threat’ docs (clinician, teacher, researcher) increasingly rare. 1/
And then, information transparency means medical literature is widely and instantly disseminated: the myth of the all-knowing doc is eroding. Some patients with rarer diseases can study enough to be nearly as expert and up to date, albeit without the broad clinical experience of years of medical practice. 2/
Furthermore, the explosion of new information and knowledge is too fast for ANY human to keep up with. This is due in part to the technology acceleration, due to growth in globalization and ability to communicate and connect many minds with many ideas. Only purpose-built AI’s have a chance to digest such a deluge. 3/
The bad news: human minds will not keep up, from here on out. The good news: we can become centaurs: half human, half horse (or AI-assisted). Chess, for example, in unlimited tournaments, is most often won by human-computer hybrid teams. I think this is our foreseeable model in healthcare, and in a growing number of fields. 4/
And in the long run, perhaps we are all out of a job? I don’t agree with that either. TV did not knock out radio. Cable did not knock out broadcast TV. Internet did not knock out cable. The landscape just looks different. 5/
Finally, I agree with Dr. Vartebedian’s point: we need to look up more from our grindstones and see what is on the horizon. If the technology acceleration continues, it will come at us faster. And we need to prepare ourselves and educate our patients, our communities. Thanks for reminding us. Amazing things ahead. 6/end.
My good friend Dr. Elizabeth Toll, pediatrician, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, has done it again.
Her piece in the Rhode Island Medical Journal.
Her timely, moving portrait of the immigrants of the Bhutanense-Nepali refugee community is emblematic of the struggles and triumphs of immigrants in the United States. As an immigrant myself, I can relate. As a physician, I can relate.
She writes, however, for all humans. She shows us connection, and community.
It is heartbreaking, on-the-ground insightful, and I derived great solace from her soulful writing.
CMIO’s take? Read this. Happy Holidays.
Scientists plant a forest inside a preschool.
https://www.wired.com/story/what-forest-floor-playgrounds-teach-us-about-kids-and-germs/
Ok sure, not so easy. But, this is a fascinating story of scientists planting a forest ecology inside a randomly selected group of pre-school daycare playgrounds, comparing with control-group daycares, and studying what happens. You’ve got to read this.
https://www.wired.com/story/how-dumb-design-wwii-plane-led-macintosh
Thanks to WIRED for this article on the design of planes, specifically the B-17 bomber in World War II and how fatal crashes led to better design and human/machine and human/computer interfaces, leading to the Macintosh.
Although thought provoking, I dislike and disagree with some of the discussions in this article:
CMIO’s take? See how I illustrated clang associations for you? AFAIK I don’t have psychosis or schizophrenia, but then maybe — SQUIRREL!
https://news.cuanschutz.edu/news-stories/metabolomics-the-science-behind-a-tour-de-france-winner
I so enjoy working at a University with such a broad spectrum of interests. The latest is the move to more precision medicine. We began with genomics: the existence of mutations or gene variants in patients or persons, then moved on to proteomics, the expression from genes into proteins (remember transcription from high school or college or medical school science?), and now metabolomics, which is not just protein expression, but the interaction of these proteins, and WHEN they exist in a patient’s or person’s body.
Turns out, the more we learn about the body, the more there is to understand. Not only do we have genes and variants of genes (remember sickle cell disease, for example?), we also have messenger RNA, the strand that copies off a specific gene, which can be turned on or off. Turns out mRNA can also interfere with OTHER mRNA, increasing or decreasing the effectiveness of those molecule strings. Also, mRNA is translated into proteins depending on the environment, and THEN, those proteins interact with each other. This happens, and possibly slightly differently, in every cell. How are we even alive?
So, now, we can measure proteins in this metabolome with increasing precision, and start to glance at the dance behind the curtain. Some exercise physiologists have spotted some patterns in the metabolome in regards to elite athletes, and this has led to some breakthroughs in performance, to-wit, the most recent Tour de France champion. Read on.
CMIO’s take? The metabolome rocks.
Mashing ideas together
this is where Greg puts stuff he wants to keep
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