JMIR Research Protocols

Continuing medical education (CME) is a legal and ethical obligation for physicians in Germany. The rapid rise of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok raises concerns about the integrity of CME assessments, as LLMs can already pass German CME tests.

Pharmacotherapy for common mental disorders is frequently limited by adverse events and suboptimal adherence. While music therapy offers a promising nonpharmacological alternative, its clinical utility is currently constrained by limited accessibility, inconsistent efficacy, and a lack of mechanistic clarity.

Substance use disorder (SUD) represents a significant public health concern in the United States. SUD recovery is complex and individualized, and support provided by peer recovery coaches (PRCs) can improve outcomes. The PRC-client relationship requires bidirectional mediated communication that is often informal but should be trackable, efficient, and aligned with health care privacy and security regulations. Current workflows and available apps do not meet these needs, illustrating the opportunity for client-centered technology tools. We have developed Peer PLUS (People Leveraging Urgent Support; Parkview Health System, Inc), a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)-compliant mobile app and client management system, to address this need; however, the platform has not yet been tested in a clinical setting.

Comorbid anxiety and depression in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are common, conferring a greater risk of poorer outcomes and increased health care costs. Few MS services include scalable treatment pathways for psychological distress.

Women with breast cancer face many barriers to returning to work (RTW) after their treatment. The Facilitating and Sustaining the Return to Work After Breast Cancer (FASTRACS) intervention aims to facilitate and sustain functional RTW.

Simulation-based training has demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing proficiency in interventional procedures. The endovascular treatment of peripheral arterial lesions has become a prominent minimally invasive therapeutic option. However, operators from various specialties, including Interventional Cardiology, Interventional Radiology, and Vascular Surgery, often follow diverging guideline recommendations and training pathways. Despite growing use of simulation in this field, the influence of an operator’s specialty on learning outcomes remains poorly understood.

High-quality neonatal resuscitation (NR) depends on timely execution of technical and nontechnical skills. Simulation-based training improves NR performance, but it is resource-intensive and difficult to deliver at sufficient frequency. Immersive virtual reality (VR) simulation may provide a scalable supplement to traditional mannequin-based training; however, evidence from European neonatal training settings is limited.

Heart failure (HF) is a major public health problem associated with frequent hospitalizations, high mortality, and substantial health care costs. Self-care is fundamental to improving health outcomes; yet, self-care is commonly poor among patients with HF. SMS text messaging interventions may provide a simple, scalable, and accessible strategy to support HF self-care, particularly among older adults who may face barriers to using more complex digital health technologies. However, the efficacy of text messaging as a standalone intervention for patients with HF remains underexplored.

With shorter window periods than serologic point-of-care (POC) tests and faster turnaround than laboratory-based nucleic acid tests (NAT), POC NATs could improve early detection of HIV. Furthermore, semiquantitative POC NAT may provide real-time monitoring for persons with HIV. There have been limited evaluations of POC NAT implementation in the United States.

Mounting evidence underscores the adverse effects of excess body weight during cancer survivorship, yet many breast cancer survivors struggle to maintain a healthy weight (approximately 70% have overweight or obesity [OW/OB]). Daily caloric restriction with increased physical activity is the standard behavioral weight loss approach; however, many fail to achieve clinically meaningful (>5%) weight loss, emphasizing the need for innovative interventions. A recent investigation found that a behavioral weight loss program focusing on 4:3 intermittent fasting (4:3 IMF) produced 60% greater weight loss among healthy adults with OW/OB with no history of cancer than a program focused on daily caloric restriction. Given these promising results and the need for innovative weight loss strategies among breast cancer survivors, studies testing 4:3 IMF among breast cancer survivors are warranted.

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) constitute a significant global health burden with a severe impact. Uroflowmetry, the gold standard assessment for measuring urinary flow, may be inaccessible due to equipment availability or cost. Meanwhile, the proliferation of smartphones, even in resource-limited countries, offers a promising infrastructure for developing an innovative tool. Using the built-in microphone of smartphones to capture and analyze voiding sounds to estimate urine flow parameters has emerged as a potential solution to overcome these limitations.

There is a critical need for acceptable, scalable, and mechanistically targeted behavioral health interventions for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), known as brain-gut behavior therapies (BGBTs). Although positive psychology (PP) interventions, which focus on the cultivation of positive psychological well-being, have been linked to improved health outcomes across diverse medical populations, they have not yet been investigated in IBS. To address this gap, we developed WISH (Well-Being in IBS: Strengths and Happiness), a novel, 9-week, phone-delivered PP-based BGBT for individuals with IBS.