Remote Monitoring: The Future of Cardiac care

‘Remote’ means from a distance or without physical contact. The Covid-19 pandemic brought with it multiple lifestyle changes for people across the globe. It gave rise to the ‘remote’ culture – be it work, healthcare, food or education; we all adapted to the new normal of everything being managed online and/or over calls.

A shift that was already underway with the advent of digital healthcare was accelerated by the onset of the pandemic. With the healthcare infrastructure and workers under stress due to the influx of Covid-19 cases and strict lockdowns across countries, access to healthcare became a cause for concern for people with existing chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases. Digitally powered healthcare became a crucial need during this time and we are seeing a shift towards remote patient monitoring (RPM) to manage chronic illnesses. 

What is Remote Monitoring:

Picture a tiny device, the size of a paper clip, remotely monitoring the working of a patient’s heart, tabulating daily activities and providing real time data that is accessible on your smartphone, in the comfort of your home.  This technology is not just a figment of imagination but an existing tech in the form of Insertable Cardiac Monitor (ICM). It is an effective and accurate tool for monitoring the heart health of patients with conditions such as arrhythmias or abnormal heartbeats.

ICM is a remote patient monitoring device that allows your doctor to monitor and diagnose the condition of your heart remotely, making qualitative healthcare accessible outside the confines of a clinic or health centre. An ICM goes under the skin near your heart through a minimally invasive procedure and tracks variations in heart rhythm around the clock. All data is recorded and synced up with a smartphone so that you can efficiently receive the personalized and proactive care you deserve.

Benefits of Remote monitoring:

According to the data published in the European Heart Journal, remote monitoring results in more than 65 percent reduction in hospitalization and nearly 80 percent reduction in the time taken to detect abnormalities and initiate timely action. Patients with remote monitoring devices have a probability of survival that is nearly two and a half times greater than those without it.

Remote patient monitoring can empower patients to better manage their health and participate in their health care. It offers much needed peace of mind for patients and caregivers in terms of reduced stress, uncertainty and more health information.

When used by doctors and healthcare practitioners, RPM can provide a complete view of a patient’s health over time, increase patient’s adherence to a treatment, and enable timely intervention. Using the robust data sent to them via RPM, doctors can develop a personalized care plan and engage in joint decision-making with the patient to manage their chronic conditions and deliver better results.

The future of fighting heart diseases:

While RPM is not a new concept in the management of cardiovascular diseases, health tech innovations have made significant leaps in leveraging technologies like wireless data transfer and smartphone connectivity to make RPM more holistic and provide timely interventions of chronic conditions.

Before the evolution of this technology, patient monitoring was transitory. There was one week to month-long tracking at best, but RPM devices allow continuous monitoring. Patients can rest easy knowing their health is being tracked carefully by their doctors. It also gives them a way to securely communicate critical information to their doctor directly at any time of the day, without seeing them in-person.

Remote monitoring has a great impact on how doctors and healthcare practitioners can monitor their patients’ condition and provide timely intervention. The doctor is always in the loop, has easy access to rich data that can help create more targeted treatment plans for the patient and keep a tab on the patient’s adherence to medication with the help of smartphone synced apps.

Remote monitoring technologies are helping to reshape the management of chronic conditions by making healthcare delivery more efficient and accessible. New-age technologies like an insertable cardiac monitors, remotely managed defibrillators and pacemakers are evolving cardiac care by ensuring patients are on top of their heart health and that their doctor is up-to-date on their condition at any given time and from anywhere in the world.

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