Chatbots, texting campaigns help manage influx of COVID vax questions
Chatbots, texting campaigns help manage influx of COVID vax questions
UPFRONT HEALTHCARE
DuPage Medical Group in December started sending text and email messages to its patients as part of a COVID-19 vaccine education campaign.
As health systems ramp up their COVID-19 vaccination programs, they’re tasked with not only administering the vaccines, but also answering a barrage of questions from patients.
Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing, are helping some hospitals manage that.
Novant Health has been adding COVID-19 vaccine information corralled by the system’s medical experts to a web chatbot. The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based system started vaccinating healthcare workers in December and patients age 75 and older in January. But patient groups across the board have had questions.
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After decades of anti-smoking campaigns, cigarettes are decidedly passé. Except.they’ve been replaced with more futuristic electronic smoking devices: battery-powered pens that could pass as USBs and hold pods of liquid that contain nicotine, CBD, THC, and other chemicals. In case you’ve been living under a rock, “vaping” or inhaling the vapor created by these electronic smoking devices is the new smoking.
Even as traditional cigarette and tobacco use has dropped by 67 percent among adults,
according to the American Lung Association, worldwide vaping sales reached $15.7 billion in 2019 and are expected to reach $39 billion by 2030,
Biden asked governors what they need to fight COVID-19. Here s what Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said. Jessie Balmert, Cincinnati Enquirer
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COLUMBUS – Ohio s most pressing need in the fight against the novel coronavirus is more vaccine doses, Gov. Mike DeWine told now-President Joe Biden.
DeWine outlined the state s most critical needs as the state responds to the COVID-19 crisis in a Monday letter, responding to a Biden administration request to detail what the federal government can do to help. The most important thing you can do is get us more vaccine, DeWine wrote. We can deal with most of the other challenges surrounding its distributions, but the need for more is an imperative.
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The general public is likely a few months away from being able to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
The COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the United States has been chaotic, but the bottom line is this: Two highly safe and effective vaccines are available, and millions of doses have already been given. Health officials are also optimistic that distribution will get better, and President Joe Biden has set an ambitious goal of doling out 100 million more doses of the vaccine by his 100th day in office.
In the meantime, the majority of Americans just have to sit tight.