I decided to investigate the topic of “Remote Patient Monitoring” because of its significant contribution to the transformation of healthcare delivery, especially in outpatient settings. I’m interested in this technology because it fits in with how patient-centered care is changing and how the use of remote healthcare services is growing. It is an interesting topic for investigation because of its potential to improve health outcomes, increase patient participation, and expedite healthcare procedures. I used databases like PubMed, CINAHL, and Medline to examine scholarly literature as I navigated the research environment thoroughly. With the use of search phrases such as “Remote Patient Monitoring,” “Telehealth,” “Outpatient Care,” and “Patient Engagement,” I sought to find empirically supported information about how this technology affects patient safety, care quality, and the importance of interdisciplinary healthcare teams. This methodology ensured a targeted and pertinent investigation, meeting the requirement of current, peer-reviewed literature published within the previous five years.
Annotated Bibliography
Farias, F. A. C. de, Dagostini, C. M., Bicca, Y. de A., Falavigna, V. F., & Falavigna, A. (2019). Remote Patient Monitoring: A Systematic Review. Telemedicine and E-Health, 26(5). https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2019.0066
The Focus of the Research
The selected research article by Farias et al. (2019) carefully examines the field of telemonitoring, often known as remote patient monitoring (RPM). It critically fills the current vacuum by thoroughly investigating the factors covered in telemonitoring clinical Research. With an emphasis on early disease identification, intervention, patient education, and strengthening the patient-physician connection, the goal is to improve patient care through the digital transmission of health-related data.
Summary Overview of the Publication
The systematic literature review includes studies involving case reports, comparisons, or clinical studies/trials that were published between 2000 and 2018. The authors assess several important factors using a rigorous methodology, such as publication trends, geographic distribution, subjects covered, research goals, and the efficiency of telemonitoring techniques. The findings show increased publications with cardiovascular illness as the main subject, mainly from the United States.
Impact on Care Quality and Patient Safety
The results highlight the benefits of telemonitoring for patient safety and care quality. The technology optimizes patient care and treatment effectiveness, with an overall good outcome of 76.8%. According to the report, smartphone apps and wireless devices are popular tactics (75.7%), suggesting that they have the potential to make a big difference in patient safety and care quality.
Importance for the Multidisciplinary Healthcare Team and Nursing Practice
The interdisciplinary healthcare team and nursing practice can both benefit greatly from this resource. It provides evidence-based insights into the efficacy of telemonitoring and illuminates the growing interest in this practice. Nursing practices are directly impacted by the telemonitoring tactics identified as trends, such as tele-education and wireless gadgets. Furthermore, the study’s focus on additional assessment in surgical pathologies and postoperative care is essential for the interdisciplinary team looking for all-encompassing patient care solutions. Because it offers a comprehensive grasp of the effects of telemonitoring on patient safety, care quality, nursing practice, and interdisciplinary teamwork, this article is an invaluable resource for healthcare professionals.
Malasinghe, L. P., Ramzan, N., & Dahal, K. (2019). Remote patient monitoring: a comprehensive study. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 10(1), 57–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-017-0598-x
The Focus of the Research
The chosen article, written by Malasinghe et al. (2019), explores the broad field of remote patient monitoring (RPM) and provides an in-depth analysis that reflects the changing state of medical technology. The main focus is how quickly remote monitoring applications have evolved from essential in-hospital room monitoring to complex systems allowing patients to go about their daily lives at home while being watched. With a focus on contact-based and contactless techniques, the article emphasizes the need to monitor vital indicators, including ECG readings, heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, temperature, blood glucose levels, and brain system activity.
Summary Overview of the Publication
The article examines the quick advancements in remote monitoring and healthcare in light of the world’s aging population and growing health complexities. It highlights innovations in contactless tracking, which enables patients to stay within a few meters of the sensor, and includes a wide range of technologies, from wearable to ambient sensors. The authors’ focus on different patient groups—including elderly patients, premature infants, patients with chronic illnesses, accident victims, and more—allows them to classify other remote monitoring systems. The report thoroughly analyzes the data gathering, processing, end terminals, and communication networks that make up remote monitoring systems.
Impact on Care Quality and Patient Safety
The article highlights benefits like early and real-time disease identification, ongoing monitoring, preventing problems from worsening, cost savings, and increased healthcare service efficiency to support its position as a disruptive force in healthcare. All of the technologies being discussed—whether contact-based or contactless—help improve patient safety by facilitating prompt interventions and giving precise readings while letting patients go about their regular lives.
Relevance to Nursing Practice and the Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team
The resource has much to do with the interdisciplinary healthcare team and nursing practice. It describes the valuable advantages of remote monitoring for various patient populations, such as the elderly, postoperative patients, patients with chronic illnesses, mobility problems, and newborns. The focus on enabling patients to carry out their regular activities while maintaining monitoring accuracy aligns with the objectives of conveniently supporting patients’ daily lives. The piece emphasizes how vital technology is to emergency medical care, particularly for patients with trouble moving around. It also shows how remote monitoring can help patients receive better care. With its insights into the developments in remote patient monitoring and its many uses, this publication is an invaluable tool for medical professionals. It acts as a manual for comprehending how these technologies affect patient care, security, and the effectiveness of medical services.
Gordon, W. J., Henderson, D., DeSharone, A., Fisher, H. N., Judge, J., Levine, D. M., MacLean, L., Sousa, D., Su, M. Y., & Boxer, R. (2020). Remote Patient Monitoring Program for Hospital Discharged COVID-19 Patients. Applied Clinical Informatics, 11(05), 792–801. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1721039
The focus of the Research
The installation and results of a Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) program created to follow patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) after they are discharged from the hospital are the main topics of the Gordon et al. (2020) publication. The study aims to shed light on program details, patient characteristics, and the clinical effects of remote monitoring for COVID-19 patients after discharge.
Summary Overview of the Publication
After being released from five collaborating hospitals, 225 COVID-19 patients were recruited for the study and given access to an extensive RPM program, a particular app, a thermometer, and a pulse oximeter were given to enrolled patients, enabling them to self-report their temperature, oxygen saturation levels, and everyday symptoms. Alerts indicating abnormalities were analyzed by a group of nurses. According to the study, a sizable % of patients—66%—finished the monitoring session without setting off any unusual alerts. Enrollment in the RPM program was, notably, associated with a lower adjusted odds ratio of 0.54, indicating a lower probability of readmission to the hospital or emergency department. On the other hand, there was no discernible decrease in the likelihood of ED or hospital readmission when referrals were made without actual enrollment.
Impact on Care Quality and Patient Safety
The results highlight how RPM benefits COVID-19 patients after discharge. Monitoring patients in their homes offers a scalable approach to healthcare delivery and helps lower hospital utilization. According to the study, the RPM program successfully lowers COVID-19 patients’ risk of readmission, highlighting the value of remote monitoring in preserving patients’ health following hospital discharge.
Relevance to Nursing Practice and the Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team
The study’s conclusions have much to do with nursing practice and the larger medical team. Healthcare providers can improve patient care outside the hospital by using RPM to monitor COVID-19 patients remotely. The study highlights RPM’s potential as a valuable tool in post-discharge patient management by demonstrating how well it reduces readmissions. This study adds to the changing field of patient care by highlighting how technology can help those recuperating from COVID-19 achieve better results.
Taiwo, O., & Ezugwu, A. E. (2020). Smart healthcare support for remote patient monitoring during COVID-19 quarantine. Informatics in Medicine Unlocked, 20, 100428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imu.2020.100428
The focus of the Research Article
This study’s primary goal is to address the difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular emphasis on the restrictions placed on routine medical visits during self-isolation or quarantine. The authors suggest a smart home healthcare support system (ShHeS) that uses smart home automation, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, and healthcare systems to improve communication between patients and healthcare providers and remotely monitor patients’ health conditions.
Summary Overview of the Publication
The study describes the architecture and deployment of the ShHeS, consisting of a mobile Android application that communicates with a web application. The system combines smart home automation capabilities with sensors to automatically record physiological health information, offering a complete remote patient monitoring solution. The authors place particular emphasis on the integration of the Hyperspace Analogue to Context (HAC) for precise readings and enhanced system performance, the usage of IoT for data extraction, and dual real-time communication between doctors and patients. The system’s purpose, technological advancements, and possible effects on healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic are all covered in this article.
Impact on Care Quality and Patient Safety
The source claims that the technology included in the ShHeS positively impacts patient safety and care quality. The technology facilitates timely intervention by enabling remote monitoring of patient’s health metrics, which allows early detection of irregularities or symptoms. The capability of real-time communication guarantees that medical professionals can identify illnesses using the gathered data, possibly averting unfavorable health occurrences. Furthermore, incorporating smart home automation enhances patients’ overall well-being by providing a more pleasant lifestyle.
Relevance to Nursing Practice and Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team
This source’s presentation of technology is highly pertinent to both the work of the interdisciplinary healthcare team and nursing practice. The ability to track patients’ vital signs and symptoms remotely can be helpful to nurses, as it eliminates the need for frequent in-person visits. The system makes effective communication between nurses and patients possible, allowing for prompt attention to health issues. Furthermore, the shared data and real-time communication enable the interdisciplinary healthcare team, comprising physicians, to interact more efficiently, resulting in better-informed decisions and coordinated care.
Summary of Recommendations
The summary of the four evaluated publications highlights the critical role that patient care technologies play, especially regarding intelligent healthcare support and remote monitoring during the COVID-19 pandemic. These technological advancements promise to lower hospital readmissions, enhance patient outcomes, and promote efficient patient-provider communication. Organizational issues like policies, budget allocation, cultural concerns, and employee empowerment impact the choice of these technologies. Evidence showing fewer readmissions to hospitals, improved patient outcomes, and the creation of scalable monitoring systems provide strong support for their deployment. Interdisciplinary teams gain from improved communication, well-informed decision-making, and collaborative care due to the technology, which also has a favorable influence on decreased healthcare usage and improved organizational efficiency. The annotated bibliography presents strong evidence for adopting patient care technology, emphasizing its benefits for interdisciplinary team dynamics, healthcare organizations, and patient care quality.
References
Farias, F. A. C. de, Dagostini, C. M., Bicca, Y. de A., Falavigna, V. F., & Falavigna, A. (2019). Remote Patient Monitoring: A Systematic Review. Telemedicine and E-Health, 26(5). https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2019.0066
Malasinghe, L. P., Ramzan, N., & Dahal, K. (2019). Remote patient monitoring: a comprehensive study. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 10(1), 57–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-017-0598-x
Gordon, W. J., Henderson, D., DeSharone, A., Fisher, H. N., Judge, J., Levine, D. M., MacLean, L., Sousa, D., Su, M. Y., & Boxer, R. (2020). Remote Patient Monitoring Program for Hospital Discharged COVID-19 Patients. Applied Clinical Informatics, 11(05), 792–801. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0040-1721039
Taiwo, O., & Ezugwu, A. E. (2020). Smart healthcare support for remote patient monitoring during COVID-19 quarantine. Informatics in Medicine Unlocked, 20, 100428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imu.2020.100428