Telemonitoring in the medical field is becoming a bigger and bigger solution every day. With more and more companies adopting the technology, studies are also showing just how useful it can be in a wide range of different uses. A brand new study, which was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), said that pharmacists using telemonitoring are able to help patients achieve better blood pressure control than physicians in the usual care.
The study went through a major provider of telehealth in order to verify its findings, which are likely going to be met with some skepticism, especially from the more traditional medical community. Telemonitoring and telehealth use have been growing exponentially over the last few years, in part because of the number of rural homes that have been able to take advantage of the fact that they can talk to a doctor or pharmacist who might be hundreds of mile away without traveling that distance.
This trial took a look at 450 patients who had uncontrolled hypertension. Half of the patients monitored their blood pressure at home, six times a week, for a year. The readings were transferred electronically to pharmacists who then gave those patients lifestyle suggestions and adjusted medications appropriately. The other half of the patients were treated regularly by their physicians.
When the study was complete, 71.2 percent of telemonitoring patients reported that their blood pressure was well controlled. Just 52.8 percent of the patients who were going to physicians could report the same thing. This kind of study underlines just how useful a video conferencing and telemonitoring solution can be for people who may not be able to get in to see their doctors as much as those doctors would like. It also shows that, while telemonitoring won't solve every problem, the uses of the technology are increasing every day.
Edited by
Alisen Downey
