Connell School event explores AI and health informatics

Artificial intelligence and health informatics will be the focus of the Connell School of Nursing’s March 25 spring Pinnacle Lecture by Patricia Dykes, a nurse scientist whose research aims to improve quality and safety through patient engagement and clinical decision support (CDS).

As the Dr. Maureen P. McCausland Pinnacle Keynote Speaker, she will present “AI and Health Informatics: How Nurses Are Shaping the Future of Patient Care” at 5 p.m. in the Yawkey Center Murray Room.

Dykes is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and research program director in the Center for Patient Safety, Research and Practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She leads a series of projects to improve outcomes for patients in different care settings including primary care, hospital, and skilled nursing rehab. Her clinical trials test interventions designed to improve fall prevention in primary care and care transitions from hospital to primary care for patients with multiple chronic illness.

She also leads development of CDS and an electronic clinical quality measure to prevent and quantify delayed diagnosis of venous thromboembolism (VTE) for patients who present in primary care with VTE symptoms.

Her other responsibilities include serving as site primary investigator for the CONCERN study, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to identify hospitalized patients at risk for deterioration based on nursing documentation patterns. She also leads a clinical trial that tests an informatics intervention to improve post-fracture care at care transitions (into skilled nursing rehab and back to primary care) for patients with lower limb fragility fractures.

The author of two books and nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications, Dykes has presented her work nationally and internationally. She is a board member of the National Pressure Injury Prevention Panel, past president and board chair of the American Medical Informatics Association, and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, American College of Medical Informatics, International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics, and the National Academy of Medicine.

Each semester, the Connell School brings an inspiring leader to campus to speak on an issue at the forefront of health care. Dykes’ lecture is free and open to all Boston College students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as preceptors, practitioners, and scholars.

Dykes’ Pinnacle Lecture will be followed by an audience Q&A. To register for the event, or learn more about the lecture series, visit the Pinnacle webpage.