Telemedicine and home monitoring for COPD – a narrative review of recent literature

Abstract

Purpose of reviewHome monitoring is one of the methods of using telemedical technologies aimed to provide care at home and maintain a connection between patients and healthcare providers. The purpose of this review is to describe recent advancements in the use of home monitoring for the care and management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients.Recent findingsRecent studies focused on remote monitoring for patients with COPD proved the positive effect of home monitoring interventions on the frequency of exacerbations and unscheduled healthcare visits, duration of patients’ physical activity, proved sensitivity and overall specificity of such interventions and highlighted the effectiveness of self-management.Assessing end-user experience revealed high satisfaction levels among patients and healthcare staff who used home monitoring interventions. The majority of physicians and staff responded positively about the interventions’ facilitation of communication with patients. Moreover, healthcare staff considered such technologies useful for their practice.SummaryHome monitoring for COPD patients improves medical care and disease management despite minor drawbacks and obstacles to its wide implementation. Involving end-users in evaluating and co-creating new telemonitoring interventions has the potential to improve the quality of remote monitoring for COPD patients in the near future.

Patients’ UX Impact on Medication Adherence in Czech Pilot Study for Chronically Ill

“…Telemedicine interventions for patients with COPD have the potential to improve their health status and quality of life, by preserving care in the home environment (between physical consultations) and supporting self-management [ 20 ]. Patients monitored by the telemedicine system have recovered faster from episodes of worsening symptoms and had a lower number of hospitalisations [ 21 ].…”

The lung way home: ready for home monitoring in lung diseases?

“…This issue of Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine provides a state-of-the-art on home monitoring in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, cystic fibrosis (CF), interstitial lung disease (ILD), and COVID-19, as well as novel insights into telerehabilitation, digital outcome measures, and implementation barriers [5–12]. Although home monitoring seems to be feasible across pulmonary medicine, data on clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness are not unequivocally positive.…”

“…Much more data are available for COPD, with recent home monitoring studies showing high patient satisfaction, and a positive effect on healthcare outcomes (e.g., exacerbation frequency, hospitalizations, and survival). Nevertheless, Poberezhets and Kasteleyn described that data on cost-effectiveness were conflicting, and self-management programs had less positive outcomes [5]. In ILD, home monitoring has shown to be feasible and reliable despite technical challenges in some studies.…”