-
1 week ago | 
chestnuthilllocal.com | Nancy Stedman
If you ever wanted to peek into your neighbors’ yards, now’s your chance. On June 1, the Mt. Airy Learning Tree (MALT) will offer its Annual Hidden Gardens Tour. The self-guided tour showcases seven noteworthy local gardens, and, for the first time, offers a Native Plant Stroll of six front yards in a four-block section of West Mt. Airy.
-
Jan 22, 2025 | 
ldi.upenn.edu | Nancy Stedman
LDI Senior Fellow Andy Tan, Director of the Health Communication & Equity Lab at Penn’s Annenberg School for Communication, has a huge aversion to cigarette smoke. “My husband labels me a ‘super taster.’ I can smell cigarette smoke from half a block away,” he said. Yet this distaste does not translate into a lack of empathy for people who are dependent on cigarettes.
-
Oct 8, 2024 | 
ldi.upenn.edu | Nancy Stedman
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape various industries, its impact on health care is particularly profound. In this blog post, we explore five key insights about the integration of AI technologies, including the promising role of large language models in clinical settings and the current challenges faced in their implementation.
-
Oct 7, 2024 | 
ldi.upenn.edu | Nancy Stedman
Large language models (LLMs) are artificial intelligence (AI) systems that understand and generate human language by processing vast amounts of text data. The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 catapulted one example of LLM into many Americans’ lives. At the same time, but with less fanfare, a variety of large language models became common in some healthcare environments, by, for example, programming chatbots to answer health-related questions.
-
Jun 26, 2024 | 
ldi.upenn.edu | Nancy Stedman
Consumer feedback surveys have become ubiquitous. When people withdraw money from their bank, buy paper from Staples, or undergo a medical test at Labcorp, they frequently receive a short questionnaire soon afterward by text, email. Hospital patients also often receive surveys.
-
Apr 19, 2024 | 
ldi.upenn.edu | Nancy Stedman
Christopher Allen was ready for a fresh start. On an unseasonably warm afternoon in March, Allen, in his early 30s, walked to the 6800 block of Woodland Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, where a Mobile Overdose Surge Response Bus from Prevention Point Philadelphia, a nonprofit public health agency, was parked. In an almost street-fair-like atmosphere, snacks, packages of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan, and drug test strips were offered on fold-up tables.
-
Nov 27, 2023 | 
ldi.upenn.edu | Nancy Stedman
Hundreds of medications sold on U.S. store shelves today once were available only by prescription. Examples of such prescription-to-over-the-counter (Rx-to-OTC) switches include Advil, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; Nasonex, a steroid nasal spray for allergies; Prilosec, a stomach-acid-reducer; and, just now reaching drugstores, Narcan, a nasal spray version of naloxone, which reverses the effects of opioid overdoses.
-
Aug 30, 2023 | 
ldi.upenn.edu | Nancy Stedman
, which provide a predictable amount of money to impoverished people, are a growing tool to reduce the negative effects of poverty, such as poor health outcomes. The United States is experiencing a boomlet in small-scale, experimental versions of these projects. About 40 time-limited pilot studies are operating now, mostly in cities. Philadelphia alone is home to six.
-
Jul 31, 2023 | 
ldi.upenn.edu | Nancy Stedman
Nursing homes are among the most strictly regulated segments of the U.S. health care system, yet, for the most part, the minimum federal staffing requirements for direct-care staffers—registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and certified nursing assistants (CNAs)—are vague and rarely enforced.
-
Jun 29, 2023 | 
msn.com | Nancy Stedman
America's presidential librariesWant to take a deep dive into American history? Every U.S. president since Herbert Hoover (and a few before) has a library dedicated to his life and time in office. These presidential libraries are archives with massive amounts of documents—letters, photographs, diary entries, videos, emails—that provide a treasure trove for historians and anyone else interested in U.S. history.
