Hospital and front-line staff are frequently using remote patient monitors to help with the covid pandemic. These are used to recording a patient’s four basic body signals:
- Body temperature
- Blood pressure
- Pulse rate
- Respiration rate
For cardiac patients, electrocardiography is performed to check the heart activity, and they are increasingly being used for covid-19 patients to monitor respiration rate and oxygen saturation levels in the blood. Some patient monitors help to perform the following activities while monitoring and recording the body’s key activities:
- Drug dose calculations
- Oxygen saturation levels
- Post-anesthesia activities
- ECG/EKG for cardiac patients
- Display clinical signs
- Print clinical data
- Store individual’s records
Quarantined patients need to be monitored closely too. This has now become easier with the newly launched remote patient monitors.
Remote Patient Monitors
Remote patient monitoring is another name of tele-monitoring, and has been especially useful during the pandemic. The technology and therapeutic health practices keep a record of patients’ real-time changes in health from a distance. Isolated patients can monitor their physiological parameters along with oxygen saturation levels. In case of deterioration in health or changed parameters, patients can consult their health specialists while isolating via a web interface.
Other uses self-assessment remote patient monitors:
- Increased efficacy of patient’s health record
- Decreased hospital load of COVID-19 patients
- Effective intervention for quarantined patients
- Lowered exposure of patients and paramedic staff
- Continuous tele-monitoring of patients from home
Remote COVID-19 patient monitors differ from regular patient monitors in hospitals. Some include a medical device with a bluetooth module, an app, and hospital software. Let’s have a look at their components:
1: Wearable sensor
A wearable sensor, in-ear sensor or a skin sensor used to analyze and transmit the physiologic body parameters between the wearer and remote healthcare facilities. It records the key vital body signs including core body temperature, heart rate, and blood oxygen saturation by electronic thermometers, ECG, oximeter, and blood pressure monitors.
Wearables have sensors that record the measurements and changes and transfers the information to the healthcare providers via applications.
2: Mobile Applications
Patient side and hospital side mobile applications are used to run the program on a tablet or mobile and transfer the collected data to secure servers.
3: Cloud repository
Cloud repository is the database that receives all the data from patients and stores key parameters along with new parameters of respiration rate and heart rate viability. In case of emergency or re-infection, data from a cloud repository may be collected to check a person’s medical history.
With changing healthcare needs in the time of the pandemic, its been essential that isolated patients can use remote patient monitors to help keep them well.
