Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) allows healthcare providers to monitor, report, and analyze their patients’ conditions from outside the hospital or clinic setting. They enable providers to have a real-time understanding of a person’s health status , which helps the provider to make proactive decisions and give better advice to their patients. Additionally, RPMcan help patients engage with and better understand their health on a daily basis.One of the main benefits of RPM is that with proper training, most people can successfully learn to take their own health readings at home without clinical supervision. PodHealth uses simple-to-operate devices that help our clients manage a range of health conditions. Here’s a handy list of all the devices we use, and how they work:
Blood Glucose Monitor: Blood glucose monitors identify and record changes in your blood sugar (glucose) levels. A blood glucose test is typically performed by pricking the skin to draw blood, then applying the blood to a chemically active disposable test-strip. Many patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes use a blood glucose monitor, also called a glucometer daily, often multiple times a day, to track their blood sugar. The glucometer helps the patient and their healthcare provider understand how certain factors are influencing their blood sugar and diabetic symptoms. Some of these factors may include medication effects, diet, exercise, stress, or illness. Pod Health’s blood glucose monitors provide results in as few as 5 seconds and automatically stream the data to our healthcare team. Test strips are included at no cost to the patient.
Blood Pressure Cuff: A blood pressure cuff is a device composed of an inflatable cuff used to collapse and then release the artery compressed under the cuff in a controlled manner. A manometer is the part of the device that actually measures your blood pressure. It gauges heart rate and blood flow by measuring changes in the artery's motion. The Bluetooth blood pressure cuff is similar to the one you may have seen before at the doctor’s—the key difference is that it sends the data in real time to the provider for review remotely.
Any condition with the symptom of hypertension, or high blood pressure, can benefit from at-home blood pressure monitoring including:
Hypertension
Diabetes
Congestive heart failure (CHF)
Kidney dysfunction
Day-to-day monitoring of your blood pressure can offer you insight into the overall health of your heart, as opposed to taking readings at only one point in time without additional context. It also helps avoid the phenomenon of “white coat hypertension” where the patient’s blood pressure reading in the office is higher than it usually is at home. Additionally, daily blood pressure monitoring helps avoid masked hypertension, in which a patient’s blood pressure is normal at the doctor’s office, but elevated at home. Our blood pressure cuffs are ready to use right out of the box, with batteries included and replaced at no cost to you.
Pulse Oximeter: Pulse oximetry is a noninvasive method for monitoring your blood oxygen saturation. It is an easy, painless test used to measure the amount of oxygen (oxygen saturation) of the blood. Pod Health’s pulse oximeters provide fast and accurate pulse and blood oxygen measurements on a large, easy-to-read display screen.
During a pulse oximetry test, a clip-like device called a probe is placed on a body part, such as a finger or ear lobe. The probe uses light to measure how much oxygen is in the blood. This information is automatically streamed to our healthcare team and helps them make informed decisions about a person’s care. Pulse oximetry may be used to see if there is enough oxygen in the blood, or to check the health of a person with any condition that affects blood oxygen levels, such as:
Pneumonia
Anemia
Asthma
Lung cancer
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
Heart attack/failure
Weight Scale: For patients, the RPM weight scale can be used to conveniently monitor weight. Bluetooth scales enable the patient to track changes in their weight over time, and the provider to monitor those changes to ensure symptoms are not worsening, and if they are, intervene. For CHF patients especially, where weight fluctuations are often a result of water retention, this is essential. It is crucial that the provider is able to observe weight changes since weight gain is often one of the key indicators of worsening CHF. Our weight scales are ready to use right from the box and measure up to 400lbs.
Summing it up:
RPM devices support effective in-person care, allowing providers to understand the full picture of their patient’s health over time, as opposed to just at the annual in-person visit. RPM helps providers do their jobs more efficiently, effectively, and in a more data-driven manner. These devices help people engage more with their health and understand trends in their condition, empowering them to be in the driver’s seat of their healthcare journey. For any questions, concerns, or to inquire about starting your own RPM journey, contact POD today.
