Remote Patient Monitoring: The Future of Healthcare?
Jun 25, 2021
Remote Patient Monitoring
Remote patient monitoring (RPM), is part of the telehealth paradigm that empowers patients to utilize mobile medical devices and technology to gather their health data and relay it to healthcare specialists. General physiological information acquired through RPM applications includes vital symptoms, weight, blood pressure, and heart rate. Once collected, patient data is transferred to the physician’s office using a specific telehealth system or software application installed on a computer or smartphone.
RPM is regularly used to manage patients that require continuous, post-discharge, or senior supervision. It can advise healthcare operations of inherent health issues or retain track of patient data between visits by equating high-risk outpatients with remote monitoring systems.
The Need for RPM
The COVID-19 pandemic has sharply refocused the necessity to harness and leverage digital accessories and technology for patient treatment. The need for robust disease detection, population health monitoring, and a sense of unease when visiting conventional clinical settings is now experienced. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to substantial spikes in digital technology appropriation as specialists and patients have observed social distancing necessities. Having the technological capacity to administer remote consultations is perhaps the most tangible benefit RPM offers.
Consolidating RPM into a patient’s chronic disease management may enhance patients’ quality of life by helping them secure independence, limit complications, and decrease personal costs. Patients with a more intricate self-care process such as post-operative care, house dialysis, or congestive heart failure can benefit the most. With patients now growing more technically savvy and less opposing innovations like virtual consultations or indirect monitoring through wearable gadgets, multiple streamlined healthcare experiences such as RPM are cropping up. RPM allows patients to take more charge of their health whilst decreasing footfall to FHIR healthcare facilities, allowing resources to be converged where they are required. As the healthcare market continues to expand, RPM can, when executed intelligently, play a key role in aiding healthcare staff to manage rising demand without the added pressure of an already strained system.
How RPM works?
While RPM systems can alter depending on the device or the condition, most of the technology includes similar elements. The first segment is a wireless-enabled sensor that can circumscribe precise physiological parameters and assemble the gathered data. This storage must also require a connection with added sensors, healthcare provider databases, and related applications. Applications usually equip users with an interface to trace or interpret the data and present them with treatment advice.
The data solicited by RPM devices is transferred to a private location and cached in a relational database. The process empowers healthcare organizations with wireless telecommunications data for specific cases or in the setting of a comprehensive health history. Often, the device can notify patients when a healthcare provider has discerned the data or identified an issue that compels the patient to visit the hospital.
Benefits of RPM
1. Improves patient health and quality of life
RPM facilitates care providers to tailor a personalized monitoring program, allowing a clinician to observe particular medical conditions and comorbidities. The monitoring plan constitutes scheduled routine health actions, encouraging patients to discover how to recognize early symptoms of aggravation and self-manage. By administering health activities, patients come to surmise the cause and effects of adopting healthier behaviors. Patients also better comprehend and handle signs and symptoms and understand when to reach out for help, supplying them with a sense of security about their status.
2. Capacity to monitor patient medication intake
With seamless integration, RPM helps pull medication data from the medication profile and enables clinicians to produce medication adherence records. Patients report when they have taken their medication and also ascertain the linked symptoms for effective management. Medication adherence is crucial for patient wellbeing, and RPM supports patients to embrace and follow their particular medication regimen cycle.
3. Reducing hospital visits and length of stay
The triage facilities classify patients who need help and input from a clinician, and patient-generated clinically valid information is part of the chain of a prevention approach. Differences in vital signs can be indicators of a patient’s health depreciating. With RPM and tight monitoring of vital signs, patients and clinicians can be presented with early warning indicators, conceding time to halt deterioration leading to avoidable healthcare facility visits and incessant hospitalizations.
4. Provides monitoring and management of patients in their own home
Patients utilize the technology platform to manifest their daily health activities following their personalized care strategy. These health exercises can involve reviewing their vital signs and scanning for signs and symptoms of declining health. Health status is gained from the patient’s home and updated in the program, storing essential information to augment clinical decision-making when clinicians modify and optimize treatments.
Conclusion
COVID-19 seems to have prompted both patients and clinicians to espouse new technologies such as Remote Patient Monitoring in Healthcare, with it likely to be a regular feature of conventional clinical practice. Demand for global healthcare ambulatory systems is rising, and with technology focused on earlier detection and intervention, outpatient healthcare can be better managed. It can anticipate more costly treatments and implement the catalyst for constant, dynamic change across the healthcare industry.
