An evaluation of the west Surrey telemedicine monitoring project.
We conducted a three-month pilot study of a home monitoring service for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Fifty-five patients were recruited. They transmitted physiological data to a monitoring centre once a day. During the period of the study, 36 escalations were reported to have occurred. Of these, 29 (81%) were managed at home; the other 7 (19%) resulted in acute admission after emergency telephone calls. Although only a small number of patients were involved for a relatively short period of time, there was evidence of a substantial (approximately 50%) decrease in rates of hospital admission. The service was highly acceptable to the patients.
Dale
Jeremy
J
Centre for Primary Health Care Studies, University of Warwick, UK.
Connor
Sarah
S
Tolley
Kim
K
D004739:England; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000628:therapy*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*