Remote COVID-19 patient monitoring system: a qualitative evaluation
Background Many COVID-19 patients are discharged home from hospital with instructions to self-isolate. This reduces the burden on potentially overwhelmed hospitals. The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) Home Monitoring Programme (HMP) is a model of care for COVID-19 patients which chiefly tracks pulse...
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BMJ Publishing Group
2022-05-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/5/e054601.full |
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| author | Mark Putland Jonathan C Knott Jane Oliver Martin Dutch Amanda Rojek |
| author_facet | Mark Putland Jonathan C Knott Jane Oliver Martin Dutch Amanda Rojek |
| author_sort | Mark Putland |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Many COVID-19 patients are discharged home from hospital with instructions to self-isolate. This reduces the burden on potentially overwhelmed hospitals. The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) Home Monitoring Programme (HMP) is a model of care for COVID-19 patients which chiefly tracks pulse oximetry and body temperature readings.Objective To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the HMP from a patient perspective.Design, settings and participants Of 46 COVID-19 patients who used the HMP through RMH during April to August 2020, 16 were invited to participate in this qualitative evaluation study; all accepted, including 6 healthcare workers. Attempts were made to recruit a gender-balanced sample across a range of COVID-19 severities and comorbidities. Participants completed a brief semistructured phone interview discussing their experience of using the HMP.Outcome measures and analysis A thematic analysis of interview data was conducted. Feasibility was defined as the HMP’s reported ease of use. Acceptability was considered holistically by reviewing themes in the interview data.Results The HMP allowed clinical deterioration to be recognised as it occurred enabling prompt intervention. All participants reported a positive opinion of the HMP, stating it was highly acceptable and easy to use. Almost all participants said they found using it reassuring. Patients frequently mentioned the importance of the monitoring clinicians as an information conduit. The most suggested improvement was to monitor a broader set of symptoms.Conclusions The HMP is highly feasible and acceptable to patients. This model of care could potentially be implemented on a mass-scale to reduce the burden of COVID-19 on hospitals. A key benefit of the HMP is the ability to reassure patients they will receive suitable intervention should they deteriorate while isolating outside of hospital settings. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-792883d03b024a49b4c147ef726e6cc8 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
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| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-792883d03b024a49b4c147ef726e6cc82025-08-20T01:47:40ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552022-05-0112510.1136/bmjopen-2021-054601Remote COVID-19 patient monitoring system: a qualitative evaluationMark Putland0Jonathan C Knott1Jane Oliver2Martin Dutch3Amanda Rojek48 Department of Critical Care, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaDepartment of Critical Care, Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, AustraliaDepartment of Infectious Diseases, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria, AustraliaEmergency Department, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 3050, AustraliaInternational Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC), Pandemic Sciences Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKBackground Many COVID-19 patients are discharged home from hospital with instructions to self-isolate. This reduces the burden on potentially overwhelmed hospitals. The Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) Home Monitoring Programme (HMP) is a model of care for COVID-19 patients which chiefly tracks pulse oximetry and body temperature readings.Objective To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the HMP from a patient perspective.Design, settings and participants Of 46 COVID-19 patients who used the HMP through RMH during April to August 2020, 16 were invited to participate in this qualitative evaluation study; all accepted, including 6 healthcare workers. Attempts were made to recruit a gender-balanced sample across a range of COVID-19 severities and comorbidities. Participants completed a brief semistructured phone interview discussing their experience of using the HMP.Outcome measures and analysis A thematic analysis of interview data was conducted. Feasibility was defined as the HMP’s reported ease of use. Acceptability was considered holistically by reviewing themes in the interview data.Results The HMP allowed clinical deterioration to be recognised as it occurred enabling prompt intervention. All participants reported a positive opinion of the HMP, stating it was highly acceptable and easy to use. Almost all participants said they found using it reassuring. Patients frequently mentioned the importance of the monitoring clinicians as an information conduit. The most suggested improvement was to monitor a broader set of symptoms.Conclusions The HMP is highly feasible and acceptable to patients. This model of care could potentially be implemented on a mass-scale to reduce the burden of COVID-19 on hospitals. A key benefit of the HMP is the ability to reassure patients they will receive suitable intervention should they deteriorate while isolating outside of hospital settings.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/5/e054601.full |
| spellingShingle | Mark Putland Jonathan C Knott Jane Oliver Martin Dutch Amanda Rojek Remote COVID-19 patient monitoring system: a qualitative evaluation BMJ Open |
| title | Remote COVID-19 patient monitoring system: a qualitative evaluation |
| title_full | Remote COVID-19 patient monitoring system: a qualitative evaluation |
| title_fullStr | Remote COVID-19 patient monitoring system: a qualitative evaluation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Remote COVID-19 patient monitoring system: a qualitative evaluation |
| title_short | Remote COVID-19 patient monitoring system: a qualitative evaluation |
| title_sort | remote covid 19 patient monitoring system a qualitative evaluation |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/5/e054601.full |
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