ABSTRACT Introduction Junior doctors are responsible for a substantial number of prescribing errors, and final-year medical students lack sufficient prescribing knowledge and skills just before they graduate. Various national and international projects have been initiated to reform the teaching of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CP&T) during undergraduate medical training. However, there is as yet no list of commonly prescribed and available medicines that European doctors should be able to independently prescribe safely and effectively without direct supervision. Such a list could form the basis for a European Prescribing Exam and would harmonise European CP&T education. Therefore, the aim of this study is to reach consensus on a list of widely prescribed medicines, available in most European countries, that European junior doctors should be able to independently prescribe safely and effectively without direct supervision: the European List of Essential Medicines for Medical Education. Methods and analysis This modified Delphi study will recruit European CP&T teachers (expert group). Two Delphi rounds will be carried out to enable a list to be drawn up of medicines that are available in ≥80% of European countries, which are considered standard prescribing practice, and which junior doctors should be able to prescribe safely and effectively without supervision. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Medical Ethics Review Committee of VU University Medical Center (no. 2020.335) and by the Ethical Review Board of the Netherlands Association for Medical Education (approved project no. NVMO‐ERB 2020.4.8). The European List of Essential Medicines for Medical Education will be presented at national and international conferences and will be submitted to international peer-reviewed journals. It will also be used to develop and implement the European Prescribing Exam.
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Aims: Prescribing errors among junior doctors are common in clinical practice because many lack prescribing competence after graduation. This is in part due to inadequate education in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics (CP&T) in the undergraduate medical curriculum. To support CP&T education, it is important to determine which drugs medical undergraduates should be able to prescribe safely and effectively without direct supervision by the time they graduate. Currently, there is no such list with broad-based consensus. Therefore, the aim was to reach consensus on a list of essential drugs for undergraduate medical education in the Netherlands. Methods: A two-round modified Delphi study was conducted among pharmacists, medical specialists, junior doctors and pharmacotherapy teachers from all eight Dutch academic hospitals. Participants were asked to indicate whether it was essential that medical graduates could prescribe specific drugs included on a preliminary list. Drugs for which ≥80% of all respondents agreed or strongly agreed were included in the final list. Results: In all, 42 (65%) participants completed the two Delphi rounds. A total of 132 drugs (39%) from the preliminary list and two (3%) newly proposed drugs were included. Conclusions: This is the first Delphi consensus study to identify the drugs that Dutch junior doctors should be able to prescribe safely and effectively without direct supervision. This list can be used to harmonize and support the teaching and assessment of CP&T. Moreover, this study shows that a Delphi method is suitable to reach consensus on such a list, and could be used for a European list.
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The healthcare sector has been confronted with rapidly rising healthcare costs and a shortage of medical staff. At the same time, the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a promising area of research, offering potential benefits for healthcare. Despite the potential of AI to support healthcare, its widespread implementation, especially in healthcare, remains limited. One possible factor contributing to that is the lack of trust in AI algorithms among healthcare professionals. Previous studies have indicated that explainability plays a crucial role in establishing trust in AI systems. This study aims to explore trust in AI and its connection to explainability in a medical setting. A rapid review was conducted to provide an overview of the existing knowledge and research on trust and explainability. Building upon these insights, a dashboard interface was developed to present the output of an AI-based decision-support tool along with explanatory information, with the aim of enhancing explainability of the AI for healthcare professionals. To investigate the impact of the dashboard and its explanations on healthcare professionals, an exploratory case study was conducted. The study encompassed an assessment of participants’ trust in the AI system, their perception of its explainability, as well as their evaluations of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. The initial findings from the case study indicate a positive correlation between perceived explainability and trust in the AI system. Our preliminary findings suggest that enhancing the explainability of AI systems could increase trust among healthcare professionals. This may contribute to an increased acceptance and adoption of AI in healthcare. However, a more elaborate experiment with the dashboard is essential.
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In greenhouse horticulture harvesting is a major bottleneck. Using robots for automatic reaping can reduce human workload and increase efficiency. Currently, ‘rigid body’ robotic grippers are used for automated reaping of tomatoes, sweet peppers, etc. However, this kind of robotic grasping and manipulation technique cannot be used for harvesting soft fruit and vegetables as it will cause damage to the crop. Thus, a ‘soft gripper’ needs to be developed. Nature is a source of inspiration for temporary adhesion systems, as many species, e.g., frogs and snails, are able to grip a stem or leave, even upside down, with firm adhesion without leaving any damage. Furthermore, larger animals have paws that are made of highly deformable and soft material with adjustable grip size and place holders. Since many animals solved similar problems of adhesion, friction, contact surface and pinch force, we will use biomimetics for the design and realization of the soft gripper. With this interdisciplinary field of research we aim to model and develop functionality by mimicking biological forms and processes and translating them to the synthesis of materials, synthetic systems or machines. Preliminary interviews with tech companies showed that also in other fields such as manufacturing and medical instruments, adjustable soft and smart grippers will be a huge opportunity in automation, allowing the handling of fragile objects.
Inleiding en praktijkvraag Het in 2012 opgerichte Saxion lectoraat Mechatronica is destijds gestart met het genomineerde RAAK-PRO project Medical Robotics. De ontwikkelde mechatronische kennis (vision, autonome navigatie, robotarmen) zijn enkel toegepast in de zorg en service robotica, maar kan worden toegepast in de industrie. Noord-oost Nederland staat bekend om zijn HTSM industrieën (VMI, WWINN, Bronkhorst, AWL, Norma, Thales, ed) en deze willen concreet en projectmatig samenwerken met kennisinstellingen binnen een netwerk van bedrijven. Projectdoelstelling Doelstelling is om met een breed netwerk van bedrijven de gezamenlijke onderzoeksbehoefte te identificeren. Diverse bedrijven, waaronder IMS en MetricControl, hebben reeds concreet hierom gevraagd. De doelstelling van het project BOARDing (“come-on-board”) is dan ook: “Identificeren van de gezamenlijke onderzoeksbehoefte en projectmatig deze samen op te lossen met de kennisinstellingen”. De hoofddoelstelling wordt beantwoord door de deliverables uit de volgende subdoelstellingen: 1. (her-)oprichten van de Mechatronica Vally Twente 2. Definitie gezamenlijke onderzoeksroadmap vanuit de individuele technologie roadmaps 3. Nieuwe onderzoeksprojectvoorstellen (min 1) uit deze onderzoeksroadmap. Bijdrage aan topsector SMART Industry Het lectoraat en de deelnemende bedrijfspartners IMS en MetricControl willen bewerkstelligen dat er concreet en projectmatig daadwerkelijke invulling wordt gegeven aan de regionale kennisagenda van de topsector SMART Industry: “Boost – Actieagenda Smart Industry Oost-Nederland”1. Projectmatig samenwerken en kennisdeling binnen de (her-)op te richten stichting Mechatronia voor een lange duur is daarbij de gezamenlijke visie. Vraagsturing, Netwerkvorming & Bijdrage aan innovatie Reeds 8 bedrijven hebben gevraagd om een gezamenlijke onderzoeksroadmap en zichzelf verplicht tot actieve onderzoeks- en kennisdeelname en streeft, onder deze voorwaarde, een groeimodel na in het geloof dat gezamenlijke onderzoek kosteneffectief is en de innovatie wordt gestimuleerd door onderlinge kennisontwikkeling en kennisdeling. Activiteitenplan & Projectorganisatie Het project wordt met name uitgevoerd door de lector Dr. Ir. D.A.Bekke en de deelnemende CEO’s van IMS en MetricControl.
An important line of research within the Center of Expertise HAN BioCentre is the development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an animal testing replacement organism. In the context of this, us and our partners in the research line Elegant! (project number. 2014-01-07PRO) developed reliable test protocols, data analysis strategies and new technology, to determine the expected effects of exposure to specific substances using C. elegans. Two types of effects to be investigated were envisaged, namely: i) testing of possible toxicity of substances to humans; and ii) testing for potential health promotion of substances for humans. An important deliverable was to show that the observed effects in the nematode can indeed be translated into effects in humans. With regard to this aspect, partner Preventimed has conducted research in obesity patients during the past year into the effect of a specific cherry extract that was selected as promising on the basis of the study with C. elegans. This research is currently being completed and a scientific publication will have to be written. The Top Up grant is intended to support the publication of the findings from Elegant! and also to help design experimental protocols that enable students to become acquainted with alternative medical testing systems to reduce the use of laboratory animals during laboratory training.
