Department of Biomedical Informatics

August 27, 2020

Three elected to international health informatics academy

Among the 35 new fellows of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics are three Vanderbilt University Medical Center faculty members — Steven Brown, MD, MS, Bradley Malin, PhD, MS, MPhil, and Martin Were, MD, MS. All three have primary appointments in the Department of Biomedical Informatics.

By Paul Govern
July 29, 2020

Study finds patients defer routine health care during pandemic

During February and March at two large academic medical centers in Nashville and Boston, screening for high cholesterol and high blood sugar dropped 81-90% and initiation of drug therapy for these conditions dropped 52-60%.

By Paul Govern
July 22, 2020

New data offer insights on COVID treatments for people with cancer

Newly released data on treatment outcomes of people with cancer diagnosed with COVID-19 reveal a racial disparity in access to Remdesivir, an antiviral drug that has been shown to shorten hospital stays, and increased mortality associated with dexamethasone, a steroid that has had the opposite effect in the general patient population.

By Tom Wilemon
gloved hand handling sterile surgical tools
July 20, 2020

Post-surgical bleeding associated with more deaths when compared to blood clots after surgery

Post-surgical bleeding is associated with more deaths than blood clots from surgery, according to a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study published in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia.

By Craig Boerner
Adam Wright, PhD, directs the new Clickbusters program to reduce alert fatigue in VUMC’s electronic health records system.
July 16, 2020

Clickbusters program takes on EHR alert fatigue

On April 1, the Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Center (VCLIC), in coordination with Health IT, launched a grassroots program called Clickbusters to stem alert fatigue at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Paul Govern
July 1, 2020

Facial recognition solves patient identification: study

Patient misidentification is an all too common cause of medical error. In low- and middle-income countries, free, open-source facial recognition software could provide an economical solution for verifying patient identity across health care settings, according to a study by Martin Were, MD, MS, and colleagues, appearing in the International Journal of Medical Informatics.

By Paul Govern