JMIR Research Protocols

Hospital discharge reports (HDRs) support continuity of care; yet, their specialized terminology may hinder patient understanding and postdischarge self-management, particularly among individuals with limited health literacy (HL).

Prostate cancer treatment increasingly emphasizes quality-of-life maintenance alongside oncological control. Integrative Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM), including traditional Chinese medicine, traditional Korean medicine, and Kampo medicine, has been used as an adjunctive approach for symptom management during cancer treatment. However, evidence regarding its effectiveness and safety across different disease stages remains heterogeneous and has not been comprehensively synthesized.

Patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke, as well as admitted patients who develop stroke symptoms in acute nonstroke units, are commonly transferred to stroke units, where trained interdisciplinary teams provide comprehensive assessments and discharge planning. However, the lack of integrated interdisciplinary stroke assessments in the ED and acute nonstroke unit care settings has contributed to inefficient patient flow and capacity pressure, prolonged hospital length of stay (LOS), and delayed discharge. Prior models have emphasized rapid outpatient TIA or stroke prevention clinics and ED observation pathways; these approaches have largely focused on expedited medical diagnosis and treatment, with limited attention to coordinated interdisciplinary functional assessment and discharge planning to facilitate early discharge, especially from the ED and nonstroke units, reduce readmissions, and support rehabilitation.

Delivery of interventions within student mental health services has undergone considerable digital transformation in recent years. Traditional face-to-face meetings are being substituted with autonomous digital tools with evident advantages in terms of accessibility and scalability. Despite an increasing array of digital options, there is also a growing recognition that digital tools offer limited effectiveness without some degree of human support. For example, for mental well-being, completely digitally delivered interventions show approximately half the effect sizes of interventions delivered in a traditional format. Blended forms of delivery that use both digital advantages and recognized effects of human contact are therefore promising. Hitherto, the effects of blended delivery have not been evaluated for mental well-being. Hence, investigating how digitalization in intervention delivery impacts intervention effects on mental well-being is important. This is especially relevant among emerging adults enrolled in higher education, going through a critical, transformative life phase.

Rare diseases affect many individuals and pose major challenges in diagnosis and treatment, especially in Global South countries where health care resources are limited. Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) has significantly advanced diagnostic accuracy and clinical care for rare diseases globally; however, its implementation and impact within the Global South context remain insufficiently studied.

Clinical triage requires integrating multiple information sources to identify patients at risk of deterioration. Tools capturing global health assessments beyond disease-specific scores are being developed using either bottom-up aggregation of simple indicators or top-down machine learning from large datasets. Their alignment with expert clinical judgment remains poorly characterized.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of permanent but nonprogressive disorders that affect movement and posture, often accompanied by upper extremity impairments such as abnormal muscle tone, spasticity, weakness, and impaired motor control. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) and Leap Motion–based interventions that promote neuroplasticity through different mechanisms. However, studies directly comparing these 2 approaches in children with spastic CP are limited.

The diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer disease (AD) currently rely on clinician-administered, in-person, and cross-sectional pen-and-paper cognitive assessments. While clinically validated, these measures are time-intensive, infrequently administered, and limited in their ability to detect early, subtle, or short-term cognitive changes. Thus, more frequent, ecologically valid assessments are critical to improving sensitivity to early cognitive impairment and disease progression.

Polypharmacy is increasingly common across all age groups and is often associated with the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), where harms may outweigh benefits, contributing to increased adverse drug events, reduced quality of life, and rising health care costs. However, existing deprescribing guidelines and PIM criteria, such as the Beers Criteria and STOPP/START (Screening Tool of Older Persons’ Prescriptions/Screening Tool to Alert to Right Treatment), primarily target older adults, overlooking the risks faced by younger populations.

Children with disabilities attending special education schools face significantly higher risks of oral diseases, particularly dental caries, due to physiological, cognitive, and environmental challenges. However, school-based oral health interventions targeting this population are limited in China.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes substantial disability by disrupting spinal pathways, making functional independence a central rehabilitation goal. In 2024, approximately 15.4 million people worldwide were living with SCI. Despite its clinical relevance, traditional prognostic tools, notably the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI), have limitations. Furthermore, access to advanced diagnostics constrains prediction. Existing models often fail to estimate independence, limiting goal setting and resource planning.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease associated with substantial disease burden. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has shown beneficial effects in improving AD symptoms and reducing recurrence. Inflammation Formula Number 1 (IFN-1), a TCM prescription consisting of 10 herbal ingredients, has demonstrated favorable efficacy in clinical practice. However, traditional decoction preparation is time-consuming and inconvenient for long-term standardized use. Granule formulations may improve convenience, stability, and quality control, but their dose-response relationship and equivalence to traditional decoction remain unclear.