It’s the size of a small radio alarm clock, but its impact can be big in the homes of patients with medical issues.
Josh Howe of MedCentral Home Health Care said the Honeywell telemonitoring system takes vital readings like weight, blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen status. The patient follows simple audio commands like “step on the scale” and sees the readings on the monitor which are relayed and recorded in the Home Health Care office.
“They provide peace of mind to people who have been discharged from the hospital, but still need medical attention. The use of these monitors can decrease re-hospitalization and emergency care visits. In the first quarter, we have seen an 18 percent reduction in re-admissions,” said Howe.
Fifteen of these units currently are in use in the greater Mansfield area. MedCentral nurses can do follow-up visits in the homes and use the data gathered on the monitors to help outline a course of action to improve a patient’s condition. The information from home can provide a day-by-day record for the patient’s physician as well.
Saundra Carroll, who helps care for her 86-year-old mother, says the home monitoring systems helps her keep an accurate log of her mother’s daily statistics like weight, oxygen levels, and blood pressure.
“As a lay person, this thing gives me a lot more confidence because I can rely on the machine to take the readings which I would have to take myself if she didn’t have it,” said Carroll. “She’s had to be hospitalized twice recently with really close calls so this monitor makes it easier for me to care for her at home.”
Howe noted that nurses are able to program questions into the monitors related to the diagnosis. To improve their comfort level with the device, a patient can choose an automated male or female voice.
The machines can be programmed to let patients know when to take their pills, when to visit the doctor, and other home health care directions to make life easier and safer for those with medical issues.
Howe uses a telemonitor when he represents MedCentral at area health fairs. Visitors stop by his booth to test their vital signs on the machine and get a quick demonstration on how the system works and the skilled follow-up care it can provide.
A national study on telemonitoring by Strategic Healthcare Programs determined that patients with high acuity levels can be cared for at home safely because monitored patients can improve more often than non-monitored patients.
The monitoring process takes less than five minutes. It helps patients with unstable conditions like congestive heart failure or with conditions in which early detection and prompt treatment can halt a decline in health.
Howe said these telemonitoring machines fit in with MedCentral’s goal of educating patients and caregivers to manage medical conditions at home and, thereby, decreasing re-hospitalizations and health care costs.
Medicare patients are not charged for this monitor.