Irish digital health technology company patientMpower today confirmed that it has developed a remote monitoring solution for COVID-19 on behalf of the Health Service Executive (HSE). The application enables remote monitoring of otherwise healthy patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms who are in self-isolation. This will preserve capacity in hospitals for those with more severe symptoms or underlying conditions.
patientMpower is an experienced provider of remote monitoring applications for patients with respiratory conditions. Their technology is already used in leading centres in the US, UK and Ireland. The introduction of the patientMpower platform at a major US transplant centre, NYU Langone, reduced the need for hospital outpatient visits for patients recovering from a lung transplant by two-thirds.
The HSE COVID-19 remote monitoring solution is already live in several hospitals across Ireland. The HSE COVID-19 application, on a patient’s phone or tablet, links to a wireless pulse oximeter which measures patients’ oxygen saturation. Oxygen saturation is known to be a key indicator of coronavirus severity. Patients also use the COVID-19 app to record their level of breathlessness, their temperature and other symptoms. All information captured by patients in the app is immediately available for health service staff to view in a secure patient data portal. From this healthcare staff can then make appropriate decisions about the ongoing care of patients being monitored whilst in self-isolation. Those with mild to moderate symptoms may continue to recover at home, whereas those with more severe symptoms or health measures indicative of more severe disease can be moved to hospital.
patientMpower also has a separate “hospital avoidance” solution which can be used to remotely monitor patients with underlying respiratory conditions who are at high risk of complications should they contract COVID-19. The hospital avoidance solution ensures that specialist healthcare teams can continue to monitor their respiratory patients whilst keeping them out of hospital, lowering their risk of being exposed to the virus. This solution uses clinical grade assessment of lung function (spirometry) as well as monitoring of oxygen saturation, symptoms and more.
At a time when there will be massive demands placed on the health service, remote monitoring can preserve hospital resources for those who need them the most. It also allows patients who are high risk of complications to avoid hospital and be supported by their healthcare team whilst cocooning at home. It can undoubtedly help save lives during the current crisis.
