Evaluation of a home telemonitoring service for adult patients with cystic fibrosis: a pilot study.
We have conducted a pilot trial of a home telemonitoring system involving 60 adult patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) enrolled at four Italian CF centres. Thirty randomly selected patients received a home device to perform spirometry and to measure oxygen saturation. The data were transferred to a data centre which forwarded them to the patient's CF clinic. The telemonitoring system was evaluated using questionnaires completed by patients and their doctors. The doctors reported that telemonitoring was useful in monitoring their patients' health status and in decreasing the CF centre workload. The data transfer procedure posed no particular problems for the patients. The major difficulties reported by the patients were night-time saturimetry measurements, and in the first week of the study, data transmission to the data centre. The pilot trial was positive and therefore merits a larger study.
Grzincich
Gianluigi
G
Centro Regionale Fibrosi Cistica, Clinica Pediatrica, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy.
Gagliardini
Rolando
R
Bossi
Anna
A
Bella
Sergio
S
Cimino
Giuseppe
G
Cirilli
Natalia
N
Viviani
Laura
L
Iacinti
Eugenia
E
Quattrucci
Serena
S
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D010092:Oximetry / Q000379:methods; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013147:Spirometry / Q000379:methods; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D013686:Telemetry / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult
D010100:Oxygen