Publications by authors named "David Back"

Background: Social media (SM) is increasingly used in the healthcare system and offers various benefits for patients such as accessible health information and communication with other patients and healthcare professionals. However, SM also poses risks, including the dissemination of medical misinformation and privacy concerns. This in turn can influence patients' health-related decision-making and the patient-physician relationship.

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Importance: Rapid digitalization of health care and a dearth of digital health education for medical students and junior physicians worldwide means there is an imperative for more training in this dynamic and evolving field.

Objective: To develop an evidence-informed, consensus-guided, adaptable digital health competencies framework for the design and development of digital health curricula in medical institutions globally.

Evidence Review: A core group was assembled to oversee the development of the Digital Health Competencies in Medical Education (DECODE) framework.

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: Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) after shoulder arthroplasty is often treated with a two-stage approach, but the data on the mid- to long-term outcomes remain scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical outcomes of two-stage revision arthroplasty for shoulder PJI with a minimum follow-up of five years. : This retrospective study identified 59 shoulders in 58 patients who underwent the first stage of a two-stage revision arthroplasty for shoulder PJI at our institution between 2007 and 2018.

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The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting the medical sector by offering new possibilities for faster and more accurate diagnoses. Symptom checker apps show potential for supporting patient decision-making in this regard. Whether the AI-based decision-making of symptom checker apps shows better performance in diagnostic accuracy and urgency assessment compared to physicians remains unclear.

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Background: Patients access relevant information concerning their orthopaedic surgery resources through multiple information channels before presenting for clinical treatment. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots have become another source of information for patients. The currently developed AI chat technology ChatGPT (OpenAI LP) is an application for such purposes and it has been rapidly gaining popularity, including for patient education.

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Article Synopsis
  • Traumatic heterotopic ossification in the lower extremities is a rare but significant clinical issue, characterized by abnormal bone growth in soft tissues after trauma.
  • The article discusses a case of a 31-year-old male who experienced two major traumatic events, leading to severe stiffness in his lumbar spine and joints.
  • Following surgical interventions and combined therapies, the patient showed significant recovery over a four-year period, highlighting the effectiveness of surgical resection and postoperative treatments like localized radiotherapy and anti-inflammatory drugs.
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Background: Social media (SM) has been recognized as a professional communication tool in the field of orthopedic and trauma surgery that can enhance communication with patients and peers, and increase the visibility of research and offered services. The specific purposes of professional SM use and the benefits and concerns among orthopedic and trauma surgeons, however, remain unexplored.

Objective: This study aims to demonstrate the specific uses of different SM platforms among orthopedic and trauma surgeons in Germany as well as the advantages and concerns.

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Advances in technology and digital tools like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and sensors are shaping the field of orthopaedic surgery on all levels, from patient care to research and facilitation of logistic processes. Especially the COVID-19 pandemic, with the associated contact restrictions was an accelerator for the development and introduction of telemedical applications and digital alternatives to classical in-person patient care. Digital applications already used in orthopaedic surgery include telemedical support, online video consultations, monitoring of patients using wearables, smart devices, surgical navigation, robotic-assisted surgery, and applications of artificial intelligence in forms of medical image processing, three-dimensional (3D)-modelling, and simulations.

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Background: Social media (SM) has gained importance in the health care sector as a means of communication and a source of information for physicians and patients. However, the scope of professional SM use by orthopedic and trauma surgeons remains largely unknown.

Objective: This study presents an overview of professional SM use among orthopedic and trauma surgeons in Germany in terms of the platforms used, frequency of use, and SM content management.

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Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, many things changed in universities around the world. In-person learning was not possible. Instead, courses were offered in digital form.

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Background: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, on-site classroom teaching became limited at most German medical universities. This caused a sudden demand for digital teaching concepts. How the transfer from classroom to digital teaching or digitally assisted teaching was conducted was decided by each university and/or department individually.

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Background: Efficient digitization in medicine still is in its infancy but undeniably has great potential for current and future challenges in health care. Thus far, the rollout of medical apps has not resulted in widespread use of smartphones in the German health care sector-the reasons for this have not been clarified so far. Nevertheless, the lack of user involvement in the development process and content creation might contribute to low acceptance of these products.

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Background: Although apps are becoming increasingly relevant in healthcare, there is limited knowledge about how healthcare professionals perceive "quality" in this context and how quality principles that can aid them in assessing health-related apps may be prioritised. The objective was to investigate physicians' views of predefined (general) quality principles for health apps and to determine whether a ranking algorithm applied to the acquired data can provide stable results against various demographic influences and may thus be appropriate for prioritisation.

Methods: Participants of an online survey of members of two German professional orthopaedics associations conducted between 02/12/2019 and 02/01/2020 were asked about their perception of a set of quality principles for health apps (i.

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Background: Knife crime has increased considerably in recent years in Northern Europe. Affected patients often require immediate surgical care due to traumatic organ injury. Yet, little is known about clinically relevant routine laboratory parameters in stab injury patients and how these are associated with intensive care unit (ICU) admission, hospitalization and number of surgeries.

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Background: Contemporary first-line antiretrovirals have considerably reduced liability for clinically significant drug-drug interactions (DDI). This systematic review evaluates the prevalence of DDI among people receiving antiretrovirals across 3 decades.

Methods: We searched 3 databases for studies reporting the prevalence of clinically significant DDIs in patients receiving antiretrovirals published between January 1987 and July 2022.

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Digitalization and digitization are becoming increasingly more important in medicine. Processes are being optimized and data are being digitally recorded, analyzed and archived. Although there is still a comparatively large need to catch up in Germany, we are on a solid transformation path.

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Objective: Facing a shortage of young surgeons, this study aimed to examine the availability of mentoring programs and if this can counteract this lack.

Summary Background Data: Medical mentoring programs have proven to be decisive to influence students' later career decisions. Since their structure may depend on the medical school and the effort of single disciplines, the offers are often very heterogeneous.

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Background: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, video consultations have gained importance in orthopaedic and traumatological departments. In current literature, different adaptations of classic joint and functional examinations have been described for the virtual examination.

Methodology: A systematic review of current literature on adaptations for the virtual joint and functional examination in orthopaedics and trauma surgery was performed over PubMed (January 2010 to April 2021).

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Background: Health-related mobile applications (apps) are rapidly increasing in number. There is an urgent need for assessment tools and algorithms that allow the usability and content criteria of these applications to be objectively assessed. The aim of this work was to establish and validate a concept for orthopedic societies to rate health apps to set a quality standard for their safe use.

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Article Synopsis
  • Treating severely injured patients involves quick, complex decisions, often leading to procedural errors despite team experience; this study explores how machine learning (ML) can improve initial management by analyzing past data patterns.
  • A systematic review of literature was conducted, excluding small studies, to identify effective ML applications in acute patient management, categorizing them into prediction groups like injury patterns and mortality.
  • From 36 relevant articles, which included over 18.5 million patients, the review found that most ML models had positive outcomes in predicting mortality, suggesting promising results for better decision-making in trauma care.
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Background: Contact teaching was prohibited by nationwide lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The scientific literature contains no concrete figures concerning e‑learning via webinars in the subject of orthopedics and trauma surgery in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: This research study was established to collect facts and figures about webinars as a representative part of e‑learning in the subject of orthopedics and trauma surgery in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Background: To ensure successful medical education despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for online instruction has substantially increased. Fast and efficient teaching in a digital format poses a great challenge for medical students and lecturers as well as the universities.

Objective: The aim of this study is to capture the readiness of medical students and faculty members to participate in rapidly- evolving online education.

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) antiviral nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid) has been granted authorization or approval in several countries for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 at high risk of progression to severe disease and with no requirement for supplemental oxygen. Nirmatrelvir/ritonavir will be primarily administered outside the hospital setting as a 5-day course oral treatment. The ritonavir component boosts plasma concentrations of nirmatrelvir through the potent and rapid inhibition of the key drug-metabolizing enzyme cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4.

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Background: Due to the global digitalization, implementation of digital elements into daily work can support physiotherapists' work but may also pose some challenges. Only little is known about physiotherapists' attitude towards digitalization. This study primarily aimed to analyze physiotherapists' attitude towards digitalization and to what extend digital tools have been implemented into their daily work.

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Nirmatrelvir–ritonavir (NMV/r) is now being used to treat high-risk patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. This article provides advice to clinicians regarding recognition of medications likely to interact with NMV/r and suggests approaches to managing such drug–drug interactions. An algorithm is provided to assist in decision making.

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