What is Remote Patient Monitoring and How is It Beneficial?
June 23, 2021
The truth is, not every sick person can be glued to a hospital bed and monitored every minute of the day, in the same way that not everyone can be at home for security issues 24/7. Luckily, thanks to the brilliance of technology, patients can be monitored remotely wherever they are. It’s predicted that Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), will grow above worth of USD 1502.9 million by 2024. As a relatively new tech, we need to understand exactly how it works and what the future implications are. Below, we dive in and detail the mechanics and the benefits.
How Does RPM Work?
Simply put, Remote Patient Monitoring falls under telehealth and uses technology, hardware, and digital connections to send patient data through the internet to healthcare providers. Using various devices such as Fitbits and medical implants, patients monitor their stats and transmit data via secured messages to their clinicians. The timeframe can be adjusted depending on the reason for monitoring and can be used to check if treatments are working. There are many uses already being seen around the world, and we’ll go into a bit more detail below.
Benefits of RPM
As mentioned above, RPM can be used to monitor treatment efficiency. Many treatments require patients to administer their medication through IV injections, with equipment being found through suppliers like medical-supermarket.com. The benefit of RPM to the healthcare provider is that they can keep their waiting areas clear from people needing a treatment check-up. For patients, they can go about their daily life safe in the knowledge that if something does go wrong, they will receive the correct care promptly.
Another element of RPM can be seen through the use of apps like OrthoLive. The program is used by patients and clinicians through smartphones and allows videos and images of physical symptoms to be sent. Through this, diagnoses can be made without the need for a meaningless trip to the A&E.
The implications in reducing patient foot flow and alleviating the no bed crisis have been widely studied. The VA noted that they saw a reduction of bed reliance days by 53%. Further, they recorded a 33% decline in hospital admissions. As well as this, in 2019, Cision found that 64% of all adults aged 40+ would use a wearable RPM device in place of physical hospital visits. It is clear that RPM is a step in the right direction, but where will it go next?
A Look to the Future
RPM is not a new technology; however, on the back of the global pandemic, it has gained traction and is set to grow exponentially. The RCGP found that in April 2020, there was a 25% increase in the number of remote consultations – a rise to a total of 71%. These numbers are only expected to grow over the next 5 years.
Remote Patient Monitoring is crucial in reducing waiting times and preventing the cost of unnecessary hospital visits. Simply wearing a device and sending data can help save lives.
