Remote Monitoring Devices - The Digital Healthcare Strategy to Combat a Pandemic

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Remote Monitoring Devices The Digital Healthcare
Strategy to Combat a Pandemic
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Introduction With the positive corona virus
cases crossing over 1 million globally, we are at
a risk of overwhelming our healthcare systems.
Hospitals are stretching thin as the demand for
critical care capacity surges and the supply
falls short against the total projected number of
cases. As per Mckinsey, the critical care
capacity of the hospitals needs to be increased
by four to five times in the coming weeks for
offering the required assistance to the patients
and reducing the mortality rates. More
importantly, the centralized care delivery model
in hospitals present increased risks of exposure
and contraction vulnerabilities to the
non-coronavirus patients. According to the
McKinsey report, ceasing all non-emergent care
across hospitals and other sites of care would
free up to 30 percent bed capacity, caregiver
capacity, and a portion of ventilator and
personal protective equipment (PPE) capacity
almost immediately. As the expansion of critical
care capacity a decentralized healthcare
strategy are vital to saving lives and deal with
this pandemic, we will need to move beyond the
traditional methods of healthcare delivery.
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• Implementing remote monitoring systems
• While remote care delivery assumes great
  importance in the present dynamics, implementing
  and switching to such methods at such a scale is
  an enormous task for the healthcare providers.
  Digital epidemiology tools, wearable tech,
  AI-based chatbots, and other similar tools are
  seeing a sudden surge in demand. However, before
  implementing a remote monitoring care model, it
  is imperative that the healthcare providers
  formulate an effective strategy.
• The manufacturers of remote monitoring devices
  such as wearable technology and telehealth
  platforms should be able to scale up for meeting
  the exponential demand.
• It is important that both patients and healthcare
  professionals are trained adequately to use the
  digital tools.
• The data obtained from the remote monitoring
  devices should integrate seamlessly with the
  hospital infrastructure and Electronic Health
  Record Systems (EHRs).
• As incidents of breaches increase amid the
  pandemic, the remote healthcare monitoring
  systems digital platforms should be secured and
  protected against cyber-risks.

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Real-life examples of remote monitoring amid
COVID-19 outbreak   Telehealth platforms and
other remote monitoring devices not only offer
cost-effective convenient medical assistance
but also prevent physician burnouts in a time
when they are needed to be available at all
times. Here are some real-life examples where
remote monitoring devices have been deployed to
monitor COVID-19 patients  Not-for-profit
Catholic health system, Providence, is using
Remote Patient Monitoring for 700 COVID-19
Patients. They are using a pathway solution from
Twistle to connect automatically with at-risk
patients. Up-to-date information about symptoms
is gathered via secure text messaging, phone, or
smart phone apps. If the symptoms require
attention, an alert is sent to the care team. For
automation and integration of the data into the
EMR workflow, Providence is using Xhealths
digital health platform. Dr. Todd Czartoski,
Chief Medical Technology Officer for Providence,
talks about their digital strategy  In the
current environment, we have a large population
of patients who are concerned and experiencing
symptoms that may or may not be indicative of
COVID-19. Incorporating Xealth and Twistle into
our clinical operations extends the reach of our
front-line caregivers enabling us to give them
leverage to monitor patients effectively and
efficiently while keeping patients safely at
home.  Read Full Blog at https//www.cigniti.co
m/blog/remote-patient-monitoring-medical-devices-t
esting/

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