Effects of home telemonitoring to support improved care for chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases

To assess the impact of a home telemonitoring technology on patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in terms of care satisfaction, patient empowerment, improved quality of life, and utilization of hospital and home care.

A quasi-experimental retrospective and prospective design was developed with a matched control group to compare the effects of telemonitoring (the experimental group, n = 23) with the traditional homecare offering (the control group, n = 23).

Satisfaction, patient empowerment, and quality of life were measured using validated Likert scales, whereas the data on care utilization were collected from the participating patients' medical record.

Mixed results were observed. The clinical effects of home telemonitoring were very positive in terms of patients' satisfaction and empowerment. The perceptions of care providers as well as those of patients were congruent in this respect. Also, the study suggests that telemonitoring may have a positive effect on quality of life for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. In contrast, the results were disappointing in terms of resource savings for the use of both homecare and hospital care.

Capturing the full potential of these new technologies will require a much more fundamental reorganization of work than just a simple deployment of the technology.