Amsterdam hospital monitors heart failure patients at home using
Philips Motiva
19 November 2007
The St Lucas Andreas Hospital in Amsterdam is to monitor more than a
hundred chronic heart failure patients at home using the Philips Motiva
system. This will not only improve these patients’ quality of life, but
could also prevent many hospital admissions.
The Hospital is the first in The Netherlands to introduce a remote
monitoring system for cardiac patients into its daily operations.
Preventing readmission
Due to fluid retention, patients with chronic heart failure run the
risk of serious complications, such as shortness of breath and cardiac
arrhythmia. Therefore it is very important that they keep an accurate
daily record of their weight and blood pressure. As soon as these rise
above a certain level, the patient should report this to the consultant
physician as action will then be necessary.
Many patients, however, inform the doctor too late and then have to
be rushed to hospital either to see the consultant or be admitted or
re-admitted. Home monitoring can prevent emergency hospital visits and
admissions among these patients.
Using a broadband connection, the Philips Motiva system sends the
weight and blood pressure data to the hospital every day from a
specially adapted weighing scale and blood pressure meter which the
patient has at home. In the near future this data will also be sent to
the GPs concerned. If the readings are too high, the system gives a
warning signal and doctors can intervene immediately.
“By continually monitoring patients at home they don’t have to come
as often to the hospital for check-ups. This greatly improves these
patients’ quality of life,” said cardiologist Dr. J. Schroeder-Tanka of
the St. Lucas Andreas Hospital.
Through remote monitoring, patients can also receive important
information on diet and lifestyle, for example, together with tips on
muscle strengthening and instructions on how to deal with fluid
retention.
Close co-operation
The optimum use of remote monitoring for patients with cardiac
failure is being further developed by the Cardiology group of the St.
Lucas Andreas Hospital in close co-operation with Philips Healthcare
Benelux.
“Philips is the leading supplier worldwide of cardiology equipment
for use inside and outside the hospital. This partnership fits in with
our goal to extend care from the hospital to the home, where we see
opportunities both for lowering the cost of such care and improving
patients’ quality of life,” commented Bas Verhoef, general manager of
Philips Healthcare Benelux.
This healthcare innovation in the St. Lucas Andreas Hospital is
supported by Agis Zorgverzekeringen health insurers and the healthcare
insurers’ association, Zorgverzekeraars Nederland.
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