Covid patients monitored remotely

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Some South Auckland Covid-19 patients are being monitored in the community using BioStickers, providing reassurance to patients and adding a rich layer of information about their clinical condition.

Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand Counties Manukau started the remote patient monitoring trial on July 4 2022 and almost 120 patients have used the BioStickers so far, being monitored for between three and 16 days.

South Canterbury District has also gone live with a trial of the wearable device, which sticks on a person’s chest and can monitor a range of clinical parameters such as; heart rate, sleep, skin temperature and activity level. It syncs with an app on a mobile phone, which securely transfers patient data to the remote monitoring team.

All Counties Manukau participants are Covid-19 positive and are immunocompromised, or at risk of deterioration with Covid-19. They are referred via the Whānau Ora Community Clinic in the primary care setting and the Hospital in the Home service in secondary care.

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Maria Galloway, Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau clinical nurse coordinator, says a physiological baseline is created over the first 24 hours when patients wear their BioSticker.

The monitoring team used the National Early Warning Score to configure/set the alert parameters in the AlertWatch monitoring system allowing the identification of any concerning trends in people’s readings. With the AlertWatch platform, it is possible to tailor the alert parameters specific to each patient being monitored.

The Whānau Ora Community Clinic, which provides Covid-related health services to both Māori and South Auckland communities, have expressed the improvement and reassurance in the clinical care provided by using the BioSticker.

Programme director at Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau, Jenny Pooley, says the BioSticker data is providing another rich layer of clinical information to the care team, which can be taken into account alongside things such as their medical history and knowledge of the support systems around them.

The Counties Manukau trial is exploring the feasibility of using this type of technology on outpatient groups in the community, rather than looking at the clinical outcomes.

“This approach is based on work that our quality team have done around patient experience and engagement: sometimes international studies have not translated into how technologies apply to our populations in New Zealand,” Pooley explains.

“We want to really understand how our communities receive it and perceive it, and what we need to do to support people to use the technology.”

Pooley says a lot of new devices are coming on to the market and it is possible that in the future they may combine the BioStickers with other devices such as a bluetooth pulse oximeter or blood pressure monitor.

“Going forward we will need to explore the kind of remote monitoring devices you need for certain patient groups, because one device type won't be the right one for all types of patient conditions,” she says.



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