Remote patient monitoring pilot to help Island seniors who make frequent hospital visits
Officials hope to have pilot running by early spring
A new pilot program is being launched in western P.E.I. with the aim of helping seniors who make frequent trips to the hospital for medical treatment be able instead to have their health monitored and access care from home.
Health monitoring has already been offered in the province to people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or congestive heart failure, for the last four years.
The program for patients with COPD on P.E.I. has led to significant drops in hospital visits.
"For our project we were looking at, not reinventing the wheel as such, but looking at taking technology that's been successful for one patient type and potentially exploring the applications of it for a patient population that we're looking out in western P.E.I.," said Paul Young, administrator for community hospitals in West Prince.
"Remote patient monitoring or RPM is essentially the delivery of health care to patients outside of the conventional setting enabled by a technological application or device."
Digital devices
As part of the new service, digital devices will be set up in participants' homes, Young said.
He said using the devices would also help caregivers by alerting them of any trends or concerns.
"It could be a digital scale, a device that would measure blood oxygen levels, we'd have a blood-pressure device as well," he said. "And then there'd be a digital connection that would allow the caregivers or patients to communicate with a [health-care] provider in the facility, and the intent there would be to support and provide education and help with decision-making by a registered nurse in the facility."
The Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, based out of Toronto, has given the project a $50,000 grant.
Young said they hope to start with 10 to 12 seniors who will be selected over the next few months, with the aim of having the program up and running by early spring.
If successful, Young said, it could become a permanent program and even expand to other parts of the province or the region.