Use of Artificial Intelligence tools in supporting decision-making in hospital management

Click to expand or collapse

Smart Healthcare: The Role of Digital Health in Modern Medicine

Summary

Digital health is transforming healthcare by integrating advanced technologies to make healthcare more accessible, efficient, and personalized. From electronic health records, telemedicine, wearable devices, and artificial intelligence to the recent smart hospitals, digital health is improving patient care and outcomes while reducing healthcare costs. However, the integration of digital health faces several challenges, including data privacy, cybersecurity risks, and inequitable access to technology. This article provides an overview of the current state of digital health, key challenges in implementation, and potential solutions to maximize the benefits of digital health and ensure efficient, equitable, and patient‐centered healthcare in the future.

Click to expand or collapse

New Poll: Americans Say the U.S. Is in a Leadership Crisis

Americans are largely disappointed in leaders across public service, business, education and health care, according to a U.S. News survey.

Aug. 12, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. | US News survey

From the White House to the courthouse, the emergency room and the classroom, Americans are losing trust in institutions – illuminating^[1] a leadership crisis across the United States, according to a new survey by U.S. News and World Report.

The disappointment is most acutely felt when it comes to^[2] public service leaders. More than 4 of 5 adults (85%) say government officials and other community leaders care more about their own power and influence than what is best for the people they represent. Trust in specific public institutions varies widely but reveals a relative bright spot when it comes to confidence in the Supreme Court.

The distrust and disenchantment^[3] permeates^[4] other major sectors^[5] of society as well, with 73% disappointed in health care leaders, 72% disappointed in business leaders and 68% disappointed in education leaders.

“It's gotten really, really hard to be in leadership roles right now,” says Columbia Business School Professor Michael Morris. “It’s difficult work to be a leader. It's service to be a leader. It's not as fun to be a leader as it is to do a lot of other things that these people could do. It's become so fashionable in conversation and in our writing to tear down^[6] leaders, to try to expose them as buffoons^[7] or as malevolent^[8] actors.”

The poll^[9] also asked what people look for in a good leader, and several key characteristics emerged across all types of leadership – particularly trustworthiness and honesty. Other characteristics were unique to specific sectors. Respondents identified the following desirable traits in leaders:

• Public service leaders: Loyal, authentic^[10], collaborative
• Business leaders: Strategic, driven, innovative
• Education leaders: Passionate, innovative, authentic
• Health care leaders: Empathetic, passionate, innovative

The poll was conducted by The Harris Poll in conjunction with U.S. News' 2025 Best Leaders in America. U.S. News gathered nominees^[11] for Best Leaders in four categories: health, education, business and public service. They will be ranked based on the attributes identified by the cross-section of Americans surveyed.

“Our method is unique from other rankings in a couple of critical ways,” said Erica Parker, managing director at The Harris Poll. “We began with a robust^[12] set of leadership characteristics and let the public tell us how important these were in defining a leader. We then let the data drive how these attributes grouped together to come up with characteristics that specific leaders are being rated on.”

The poll was conducted April 14-17 and reflects a nationally representative sample of 1,500 U.S. adults. From the poll’s results, U.S. News identified the following leadership personas:

• Game-changer: Driven, strategic, innovative
• Servant leader: Loyal, optimistic, generous, humble
• Altruist^[13]: Empathetic, selfless
• Bridge-builder: Collaborative, diplomatic, inclusive
• Realist: Authentic, pragmatic^[14], analytical

Politicians overwhelmingly come to mind first^[15] when Americans are asked about leaders (56%), but those surveyed had little positive to say. The public rated political leaders’ trustworthiness among the lowest of any leader group at 31%, and 75% said they have too much power. The vast majority ( 87%) said there is a leadership crisis in public service, above the rates for health care (79%), education (79%) and business (72%). Across the public service sector (which includes politicians), 85% of respondents said leaders care more about their own power and influence than what’s best for the people they serve. The 2023 iteration of the U.S. News-Harris Poll survey, asking more specifically about politicians, found 75% believed politicians cared more about their own power and influence.

In the latest survey, confidence in specific public institutions ranges, as two-thirds of the public trust the Supreme Court to act in the best interest of the American public, but less than half of respondents said the same of the Trump administration (47%) or Republicans in Congress (47%), who are now in the midst of a summer recess. Democrats in Congress didn’t fare much better (52%).

The leadership void isn’t helped by the fact that most Americans don’t aspire to follow in the leaders’ footsteps. More than 3 in 5 say they don’t see leaders today in any sector whom they aspire to emulate.

The poll revealed the public is particularly hesitant to trust political leaders and social media influencers (29% rated very or somewhat trustworthy). Community, military, nonprofit and education leaders were among those listed as most trustworthy, with 76-80% of respondents calling them very or somewhat trustworthy.

Notably, the poll found a divide between who the public identified as leaders and who they considered to be trustworthy – underscoring a potential desire for a different kind of leader. The types of individuals Americans think of as leaders are often rated the lowest in trustworthiness, while they give higher marks to entities they don’t often think of as leaders. This mirrored the poll’s findings that politicians and social media influencers are considered to have too much power, while education and nonprofit leaders don’t have enough.

Other notable findings by sector:

• In the public service sector, over 80% of the public says the current leaders aren't prepared to adequately respond to the new crises of today. Echoing this, less than half of respondents say those leaders are effectively addressing key issues like health care access (49% agree), global competitiveness (48%), mental health and well-being (47%), climate change (46%), political division (45%) and trust in institutions (44%).

• For the business landscape, 82% of respondents said that the values held by today’s business leaders don’t match those of everyday Americans.

• When it comes to education, 7 in 10 people said leadership needs to be more diverse to represent the entirety of the U.S., and three-quarters said having more diverse educational leaders would yield better outcomes.

• The leadership crisis persists in the health care industry, with 77% of respondents saying that current health care leaders care more about their own power and influence than what’s best for the people they represent.

In the coming weeks, a panel of experts representing health care, education, business and public service will evaluate Best Leaders submissions from the public and U.S. News subject matter experts. The experts will rank nominees based on how well they align with the traits and key leadership characteristics identified in the survey. The final list will be our award winners.

---

1. 此处理解为揭示, to shine light on something, OD reference ↩︎

2. 当提到 ↩︎

3. 幻灭, 就是觉得一件事不再值得去做, a lack of belief that something is good or worth doing, OD reference ↩︎

4. 渗透, to spread to every part of an object or a place, OD reference ↩︎

5. 此处应理解为阶级, a part of an area of activity, especially of a country’s economy, OD reference ↩︎

6. 推翻 ↩︎

7. 🤡, a person who does silly things that make people laugh, OD reference ↩︎

8. 恶毒的, having or showing a desire to harm other people, OD reference ↩︎

9. 民意调查, the process of questioning people who are representative of a larger group in order to get information about the general opinion, OD reference ↩︎

10. 真实的, known to be real and what somebody claims it is and not a copy, OD reference ↩︎

11. 提名者, a person who has been formally suggested for a job, a prize, OD reference ↩︎

12. 强大的，健康的, strong and healthy, OD reference ↩︎

13. 利他主义者 ↩︎

14. 务实的，solving problems in a practical and sensible way rather than by having fixed ideas or theories, OD reference ↩︎

15. 首先想到的是 ↩︎