Using the telephone in place of clinic or home visits
Remote access to patients with chronic heart failure (by telephone or telemonitoring) has a positive effect on health and wellbeing.
Researchers from Australia and Canada reviewed 14 studies of remote monitoring in more than 4000 patients.
Here are the results.
- 21% reduction in hospital admissions for chronic heart failure
- 20% reduction in deaths due to any cause
- 3 of 6 trials evaluating health related quality of life reported significant benefits
- 3 of 4 studies examining healthcare costs with structured telephone support reported reduced cost.
The bottom line?
It’s becoming clear that telephone, telemonitoring, and online computer programs are a valuable resource for patients and their healthcare providers.
Other successes using telephone follow-up have been reported with psychotherapy for depression, panic disorders when combined with the Internet, as an aid to social workers working with the elderly.
4/14/07 09:08 JR