Heart telemonitoring programs needs to become the order of the day, Health News, ET HealthWorld
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turned out to be a relief for the patients and the doctors to take note of any health issues. The use of digital technologies during the pandemic enabled continuity of and access to care for patients while protecting patients and medical staff from unnecessary risks, uplifting overall healthcare monitoring.
The greater adoption of telemonitoring technology gained momentum as a result of COVID-19's effects on health systems. Due to the challenges of in-person and on-site healthcare delivery, the demand for teleconsultations has dramatically increased since early 2020. The telemedicine service contributed significantly to COVID-19 by easing hospital workload and enabling patients to consult with doctors virtually and remotely, especially in rural areas, which has helped close the gap between rural and urban areas.
Need for heart telemonitoring programs
Patients with heart failure are currently one of the most common and vulnerable populations seen in the cardiology and internal medicine departments. Hospitals bear a heavy financial burden because of frequent and prolonged hospitalization. More effective patient management techniques, precise diagnostic equipment, and preventive measures are required to handle this health issue. Telemonitoring has been proposed as a solution to meet these objectives in recent years. Many approaches and equipment have been gradually examined for efficient home monitoring of cardiologic patients.
Telemonitoring programs involve a specialised centre monitoring, interpreting, and analysing a patient's health data. Reducing in-person ambulatory visits led to healthcare practitioners turning towards innovative models of telemonitoring as a necessary alternative to provide support and access to care for patients with chronic conditions.
Heart telemonitoring programmes have several benefits, including reduced hospitalization, preventive care, early diagnosis, higher life expectancy, increased comfort, and long workdays. The programs aim to address the gaps in the healthcare system by including advantages like the ability to use communication technology for early and real-time illness detection, the ability to continuously monitor patients, preventing illnesses from getting worse and premature deaths, lowering hospital costs, more accurate readings while allowing patients to go about their daily lives as usual, and increasing the effectiveness of healthcare services.
Adoption of telemonitoring programs
The telemonitoring system in India is constantly evolving, and 15-20 per cent of the healthcare ecosystem in India is expected to move towards virtual care across triage, consultations, remote monitoring, home health services, etc. While some healthcare organisations have seen existing programmes rapidly expand, others have begun contemplating the deployment of telemonitoring interventions as a result of the epidemic. The domestic telemedicine market in India has grown exponentially and is expected to reach USD 5.5 billion by 2025.
Further, with the recent upsurge in COVID-19 cases across the world, there are certain areas demanding attention that healthcare providers need to address.
Offering care continuity through telemonitoring: By ensuring that patients have a smooth transition from the hospital back to their home, continuity of care plays a critical role in patient management. To support this process and decrease rehospitalization, innovative care models that make use of telehealth technology will be crucial.
Adopting telemonitoring operations for a more virtual healthcare system: Virtual services like telemonitoring have shown to be quite beneficial because of the decline in in-person visits during the pandemic. To strengthen the virtual relationship and provide a more comprehensive assessment of patient wellbeing, healthcare providers need to include evaluating the goals and expectations for telemedicine interventions, streamlining the virtual patient onboarding procedures and personalizing the information-gathering process.
Ironing out virtual workflow challenges: Healthcare providers need to develop a constant connection with the patient while monitoring their health. Any break in the data flow could be chronic, requiring the devices installed to be updated to send regular readings to health professionals for better health monitoring.
Developing a meaningful patient-provider relationship: The quality, use, and acceptance of contemporary telehealth technology are rising quickly. The development of relationships between patients, their general practitioners and specialty consultants in clinical practice has enormous potential to be aided by these technologies. The benefit of instantaneous, precise and accurate real-time communication is provided by synchronous telemonitoring practices. Important formats include live bio-signal monitoring, audio and video conferencing, and use of robotic equipment.
To conclude
Future projections indicate that the telemonitoring ecosystem's demand and supply sides will experience significant increases in the worldwide market for digital health. Intelligent patient monitoring, supply chain issues, clinical inefficiency, claims resolution, and patient safety will all be addressed with the help of growing telemonitoring technologies. In addition to supporting virtual consultations, patients anticipate more thorough reports and assessments. It is necessary to solve problems linked to a lack of system integration and alert-driven interactions and to develop more long-lasting solutions. Telemonitoring programmes must be proactive in adapting to new circumstances in a healthcare system that is becoming more and more virtual.
Dr (Hon.) S Senthil Kandeepan, MD and CEO, Healthwatch
(DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHealthworld does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHealthworld.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person / organisation directly or indirectly.)
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Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 1:37 am