DRIVE
Sense in Simplicity Remote patient monitoring can benefit from simple devices Covid 19
has brought out the gap in
growing video-conferencing technology,
various aspects of our existing healthcare
wearables are set to bring healthcare into
infrastructure into the light. This has
patient’ homes.
shown us that in order to facilitate the
Simple System
provision of care to our patients; we should be willing to embrace tele-health as a tool that will change the way patient care is delivered in the future.
Dr Lakshmi Vaswani, Assistant Pathologist, Bhatia Hospital, Mumbai
at
an
ideal
remote
would look for a relatively simple system to operate, one that requires little training to use. All-in-one systems feature high
As lockdown and stay at home mandates
on the list, capable of monitoring several
were implemented globally, it became
parameters at one time and can transmit
difficult for patients to meet their doctors
values automatically to a central server
for follow up visits regularly, which
(preferably cloud based) accessible as
impacted the care that patients suffering
to treating doctors, hospitals or clinics
from chronic illnesses were receiving.
as a seamless extension of the patient’s
With the number of Covid 19 cases on
electronic health records. With smart
the rise, patients who had to be admitted
phone penetration at its highest, it is
in hospitals, for conditions other than
logical to use phone based applications
covid 19, were apprehensive as it left
with devices attached via blue tooth
them susceptible to catching infection at
to capture and transmit data. Although
their most vulnerable. In these cases, the
generic wearables are commonplace and
challenge was accessibility to a healthcare
have been used by athletes to monitor
provider, while still staying safe. This is
their performance in the past, medical
where remote patient monitoring (RPM)
grade devices should be validated and
proves to be a disrupter in the industry.
approved by appropriate licensing bodies
Traditionally remote monitoring meant loaning, renting or buying examination devices like blood pressure machines or
like the FDA or CE. The proverbial cherry on top would of course be if multi-lingual capabilities were also integrated, allowing truly multinational usage.
Glucometers and noting down the readings,
The tricky part when it comes to this
either with the help of a family member
large amount of data capture is of course
or having a trained medical aide or nurse,
data analytics. It is redundant to be
come home to take readings and sending
drowning in data, by tracking so many
them to a treating physician. This was of
parameters, but not analyzing it or finding
course personnel- intensive and was not
any
feasible in Covid times. This gave way to
from it. Analysis and flagging of values
wearables that may range from general
that are out of range, should be a part
consumer varieties like fitness bands or
and parcel of the monitoring system,
pedometers, to medical grade devices like
that also functions compatibly with a
pulse- oximeters or Glucometers.
hospital or organization’s existing HIS
In the world of wearables there seems to be a quest for the ‘Holy Grail’ of patient monitoring devices. It may look like a tall order, but many companies worldwide
September2020
looking
monitoring system, patients and doctors
Remote Patient Monitoring
Traditional Vs Modern
34
While
relevant,
actionable
information
(Hospital Information Software) and easily transitions
through
upgrades,
making
both healthcare providers and patients complaint to its continued use.
have stepped up their game and delivered
Artificial Intelligence has also been used
many promising models. Combined with
for the analysis of data received from