RPM - How the Practices can help COVID-19 patients recover at home?
Living with a chronic condition is hard enough. The coronavirus pandemic puts the 147 million Americans suffering from chronic diseases one hairline away from complications, and possibly death. The strain on the healthcare systems capacity is putting the most vulnerable patients at the highest risk.
RECOVER at Home TODAY…
In Metropolitan Detroit, a COVID-19 patient was discharged from one of the top medical centers, and sent home with a “COVIDCARE” box that contains a couple of Gatorade’s, a thermometer, and a surgical mask. The instructions: take your temperature at home everyday, and come back if necessary. Essentially these patients are left to care for themselves unless they join the ranks of the critically ill.
While that might have been the medical center’s immediate reactive measure, the practice has raised a national alarm. Not only do patients feel neglected, providers, in turn, feel helpless about finding ways to better care for their patients.
Thankfully technology now allows us to care for patients remotely and monitor their conditions frequently throughout the day. Devices such as Bluetooth thermometers, oximeters, and wireless blood pressure cuffs can now be leveraged in a virtual care environment.
How Can REmote patient monitoring make a difference?
Best practices for people who are sent home after testing positive with COVID-19
or COVID-19 patients who were dischared from hopsitals , we can give them a new
“Virtual Care” package
A) Take-home Care Package
A good COVID Care package should include a blood pressure cuff, touch-less thermometer, 24/7 help watch, and an emergency call hub. All of them are blue tooth enabled and connected with the internet and transmit data securely to a HIPAA compliant cloud in real-time.
B) Physicians & Nurses That Are Always with them
As the computer is ultimately the one monitoring any spike in the patient’s temperature measurements, there is little work on the clinicians’ part. The rules are all set beforehand. These physicians can in an instant reach out to the patient when the alerts are activated. In addition, the calls or virtual visits can be undertaken by clinicians residing away from the crisis epicenter who are not on active duty on the frontline, further optimizing our strained resources.
C) Case Managers Know the Patients Needs and Suggest Community resources that patients are looking for
Beyond patient safety, with very little extra efforts, the medical center can also point the patients to a community-care guide . We all know that social determinants have a major impact on health outcomes and if providers can find ways of addressing them, healthcare will be elevated to a much higher level of efficiency.
Conclusion:
With the existing Remote Patient Monitoring technology and platform, hospital administrations can reduce the tremendous burden on the part of ED/in-patient care units. They can activate the healthcare resources around the country to care for their discharged patients through telemedicine and remote monitoring. We can achieve all of this today. The technology is here and now; ready to be deployed quickly and effectively.