Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2023
Artificial intelligence in medicine: has the time come to hang up the stethoscope?
The question of whether the time has come to hang up the stethoscope is bound up in the promises of artificial intelligence (AI), promises that have so far proven difficult to deliver, perhaps because of the mismatch between the technical capability of AI and its use in real-world clinical settings. This perspective argues that it is time to move away from discussing the generalised promise of disembodied AI and focus on specifics. ⋯ Ultimately, ML is just a fancy method of automation. We show that it is useful in automating specific and narrowly defined clinical tasks but likely incapable of automating the full gamut of decisions and tasks performed by clinicians.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2023
The unique COVID-19 experience in Western Australia: lessons learnt.
Western Australia (WA) was in a unique position to experience coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a highly vaccinated and geographically isolated population. ⋯ COVID-19 case numbers following WA state border opening were of lower care acuity and disease severity than predicted. Two-thirds of admissions were for other primary diagnoses, with incidental COVID detection. Hospital admissions were overrepresented by partially or unvaccinated patients and by ATSI Australians. An increase in social support along with general and geriatric medicine speciality input were required to treat hospitalised COVID-19 cases in the WA Omicron wave.
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Internal medicine journal · Sep 2023
Tuberculosis and Diabetes: increased hospitalisations and mortality associated with renal impairment.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) triples a person's risk of active tuberculosis (TB) and is associated with increased mortality. It is unclear whether diabetes status and/or the associated renal dysfunction is associated with poor TB outcomes in New Zealand, which has high diabetes screening. ⋯ Diabetes is associated with higher TB hospitalisation and mortality; however, this is likely mediated by increased age and chronic kidney disease.