Long gone are the days when YouTube was simply a platform for cute cat videos and unicorns named Charlie. These days, people come to YouTube looking for answers to all sorts of questions, including ones regarding their health.

Amid a pandemic-promoted wave of health misinformation, the media platform started YouTube Health in 2021 with the goal of making accurate health information accessible to consumers.

“To combat the societal threat of medical misinformation, we’re working to fill the health information space with digestible, compelling, and emotionally supportive health videos,” its website states, adding that “everyone can learn from leading medical experts regardless of who they are or where they live.”

How it works: Under the YouTube Health initiative, the company partnered with several healthcare organizations, including traditional health systems like Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and Mass General Brigham in Boston, as well as online health education platforms like Osmosis and Psych Hub. Other partners include the medical journal the New England Journal of Medicine, the World Health Organization, and the American Public Health Association.

These health organizations created videos on a range of health topics, which YouTube curates in what it calls “carousels” and labels to indicate that the information comes from reputable sources. If someone searches for information on diabetes, for example, they’ll get a carousel of videos from the health partners on diabetes.

“Gone are the days of flyers and billboards in terms of reaching people,” Garth Graham, managing director and global head of healthcare and public health at Google/YouTube, told Healthcare Brew. “We know that patients and users already come to YouTube looking for health information, and we want to make sure that we’re able to get them information from authoritative sources.”

Keep reading here.—MA

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It’s time to let you in on some game-changing data. GE HealthCare recently surveyed 5.5k patients, their families, aaand 2k clinicians across 8 countries. The results? Well, they speak for themselves.

Here’s the kicker: 99% of respondents share the common belief that tech will improve healthcare. And get this: 61% of all clinician participants believe that AI can support clinical decision-making + enable more rapid health intervention. What’s that tell you?

There is hope for the future of healthcare, and AI’s here to enable the next step. Hooked? Good, because GEHC’s full report has tons of other compelling data to offer, from stats on workforce burnout to insights on reducing clinical burden.

Step into the future of healthcare.

Did you know there are different categories of telehealth that reported skyrocketed use during the Covid-19 pandemic? The two main ones, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), are synchronous and asynchronous telehealth.

Synchronous telehealth is a virtual interaction between a patient and a provider that takes place in real time, like a video call, audio call, or secure text messaging. It usually results in a provider giving a patient a diagnosis, treatment plan, or prescription, according to HHS.

Asynchronous telehealth, on the other hand, is a virtual interaction between a patient and a provider that doesn’t take place in real time. This type of telehealth is also called “store and forward.”

Asynchronous telehealth is generally used for patient intake purposes or follow-up care, according to HHS. An example would be a patient sending a picture of a skin rash for their doctor to review, or a provider messaging a patient follow-up care instructions or lab results.

Within asynchronous telehealth are two subcategories: mobile health (also called mHealth), and remote patient monitoring, or RPM.

Mobile health involves using a device such as a smartphone or a wearable device (like an Apple Watch) to support a patient’s health and transmit health data between a patient and their provider.

Remote patient monitoring involves transferring patient data from a medical device, like a blood pressure monitor or a pacemaker, to a provider.

Both synchronous and asynchronous telehealth have benefits for providers and patients. Synchronous telehealth has been shown to reduce the number of no-show patients, shorten the wait time for patients to see their provider, and give doctor’s offices the chance to increase revenue, according to HHS.

Keep reading here.—MA

On Fridays, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

This week’s Making Rounds spotlights Rebecca Prill, a trauma intensive care unit (ICU) nurse at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina. Prill spoke with Healthcare Brew about the factors leading to healthcare worker burnout and how policy changes can help nurses practice at the top of their professional scope.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Tell me about your background and work as a nurse.

I’ve worked at medical-surgical (med-surg) units in South Dakota and I’ve worked at med-surg units in North Carolina. Now I’m working in a trauma ICU at a Level 1 trauma hospital. I see a lot of gunshot wound victims, I see a lot of motorcycle/motor vehicle accidents, I see a lot of self-harm and self-inflicted wounds, as well as pretty much everything and anything in between.

What’s the best change you’ve made or seen at a place you’ve worked?

Nursing-driven protocols: Our providers are really working toward getting the nurses to be able to do a lot of things on their own, so we don’t need to get provider orders for everything that we do. Something as simple as [removing or inserting] a Foley catheter—which is a catheter that basically goes into the bladder and drains out your pee when you have any kind of bladder or urinary obstruction. That saves phone calls, it saves providers from having to take the time to put in orders. It allows nurses to use their own judgment and their own education and critical thinking skills to do things.

Keep reading here.—SY

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: Some older adults may benefit from keeping on some extra weight. (KFF Health News)

Quote: “There will be no easy solution for this.”—CDC officials on federal cuts to childhood vaccination programs and other immunization efforts (the Seattle Times)

Read: Therapists trained to talk about the climate crisis and the existentialism that comes with it can be a helpful outlet for anxious readers. (the New Yorker)

Big step: AI’s here to help press reset on healthcare. How so? Check out GEHC’s report for deets on how AI is helping clinicians and patients build a better future for healthcare. Give it a read.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Looking to make your next career move? We’ve partnered with iHire and their network of healthcare-specific communities, like iHireNursing, iHirePharmacy, and iHireMentalHealth, to help you find your next rewarding career. Check out open positions for:

• Nurse Practitioners
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• Healthcare Administrators