Improving Patient Outcomes In Hematology Using Remote Patient Monitoring
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”- Charles Darwin
In essence, this quote captures the meta-sentiment associated with adapting to the changes around us. In healthcare, the recent technological advancements for enhanced patient care have proven to be one of the key drivers breaking the barriers to delivering easy access to quality care. One such breakthrough includes technology/devices enabling remote patient monitoring (RPM) for connected care. RPM has transformed the way patients and practitioners approach healthcare, from diagnosis and treatment to doctor and patient consultations.
Today, RPM is used across a variety of patient conditions and care settings. This includes:
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Post-surgical care
- Oncologic care and more.
Remote patient monitoring is one of the most effective ways to detect and address chronic diseases as it enables data-driven proactive care delivery.
CHALLENGES FACED BY HEMATOLOGISTS
In hematology, treatment modalities for patients can be intensive and often sap a patient of all their energy. To add to this, infections are a serious clinical complication of intensive treatment protocols for aggressive hematologic malignancies. Let us look at some of the challenges here.
Identifying complications
Currently, the techniques for monitoring vital signs to detect these complications are tedious and often fail to diagnose such patients in time. Also, frequent vital sign monitoring during and after blood product transfusions, and certain chemotherapies or immunotherapies, are critical for detecting infusion reactions and managing treatment in patients. Currently, a patient receiving this form of treatment is sent home with instructions to contact the center if they notice any symptoms or if they feel ill. This puts the responsibility of identifying and reporting any complications on the patient, which may not be the most effective way of catching and treating complications.
Lack of enough skilled manpower
Another major challenge that hospitals face in providing efficient care is the availability of skilled manpower that has undergone standardized training. And, in the case of patients undergoing haematological treatment for cancer, chemotherapy, and bone marrow transplant, HCPs and nurses are often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that goes into pulling these patients out of serious complications.
A WAY OUT
As a solution, continuous monitoring of vital signs for haematological patients treated with immunotherapy, chemotherapy, or receiving blood transfusions using remote patient monitoring systems equipped with biosensors during and after treatment may improve the safety of these treatments and make remote data collection in an outpatient care setting possible. It can also help reduce the transmission of infections while limiting the utilization of resources that are in short supply.
HOW RPM REDUCES HEALTH RISKS OF CRITICAL PATIENTS
Several studies have proven that the use of remote patient monitoring can go a long way in reducing risk, hospital readmission rates, shorter lengths of stay, lower ICU admission rates, and mortality.
Technology-enabled, nurse-led symptom and vital sign monitoring of patients undergoing haematological treatments also enable healthcare providers to identify adverse health trends, such as a drop in oxygen saturation or blood pressure earlier, before symptoms occur. This, in turn, facilitates earlier HCP interventions that promptly reverse disease trajectory. In some cases, where patients do exhibit symptoms of decompensation, they can be stabilised with appropriate interventions, such as the initiation of supplemental oxygen or the administration of IV fluids and antiemetics, and then discharged rather than being admitted to the hospital.
BENEFITS OF RPM WITH EWS
Further, remote patient monitoring with an Early Warning System (EWS) can also help reduce the burden exerted on healthcare providers and nurses, ensuring better patient outcomes and a higher potential for treatment. This is where contactless remote patient monitoring (RPM) and early warning systems (EWS) play a vital role. These devices, which are powered by next-generation AI algorithms, track the vital parameters of patients undergoing haematological treatment and assist healthcare providers in identifying early clinical deterioration in the patients for timely medical intervention. This enables HCPs to provide better care while improving patient safety and nursing staff operational efficiency.
High-risk patients undergoing haematological and oncological treatments are vulnerable to hospital-acquired infections, so they must be adequately isolated in a safe and contained environment. At the same time, given that they are undergoing intensive treatments, they require constant monitoring of their vital parameters.
- Remote patient monitoring technology can monitor vital parameters such as heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, ECG, and temperature with minimal human intervention.
- It also has an Early Warning System (EWS) that sends alerts to the appropriate healthcare providers to allow for timely intervention.
- Such vital information can assist healthcare professionals in making data-backed, quick clinical decisions in real-time while monitoring an oncology patient’s vitals while undergoing specific chemotherapy treatments.
- RPM also has the potential to help upgrade hospital beds to connected beds fitted with these next-generation sensors coupled with cloud-enabled AI-powered algorithms that help automate patient monitoring in non-ICU wards.
The adoption of remote patient monitoring and Early Warning Systems (EWS) depends on the robustness and ease with which the technology can be integrated into the operational protocols. Innovative technologies that provide contactless remote patient monitoring and Early Warning Systems (EWS) coupled with cloud-enabled central patient monitoring are driving the faster adoption of remote patient monitoring in oncology.
THE FUTURE OF REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING
Remote patient monitoring systems have given physicians and other healthcare providers across the country great optimism about the future of care delivery innovations, especially for patients undergoing hematology and other cancer treatments. In the healthcare setting, this innovation is exciting, especially when the future of this innovative technology is looked at. The advancements in innovative diagnostics and therapeutic options are becoming increasingly available to cancer patients. As care evolves and becomes more complex, our experience suggests that the thoughtful design and implementation of similarly innovative, patient-centric approaches to cancer care delivery may improve clinical outcomes for our patients even further.