Practical Aspects on Use of Sharesource in Remote Patient Management

Area of Science:

• Nephrology
• Medical Technology
• Digital Health

Background:

• Remote patient management (RPM) is increasingly used for chronic disease care, showing positive clinical outcomes.
• Home-based dialysis, like automated peritoneal dialysis (APD), offers patient flexibility but faces adoption barriers due to the therapy's remote nature and visibility challenges.
• A new cloud-based RPM platform (Sharesource) with two-way communication is now available for APD, enabling daily monitoring and remote prescription adjustments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact and potential of remote patient management (RPM) in automated peritoneal dialysis (APD).
• To explore how RPM addresses challenges in home-based dialysis adoption for both patients and healthcare providers.
• To assess RPM's role in improving patient outcomes, care personalization, and confidence in APD therapy.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a cloud-based RPM platform (Sharesource) for APD.
• Utilizing a two-way communication system for daily therapy monitoring and remote prescription alteration.
• Documenting the identification of clinically relevant issues like catheter dysfunction and non-adherence.

Main Results:

• RPM facilitates early identification of critical issues such as catheter dysfunction and non-adherence to prescribed peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy.
• The technology offers benefits for patients with social, geographical, or physical limitations by reducing travel.
• RPM provides continuous data access for PD teams, potentially alleviating patient and nephrologist anxiety associated with remote care.

Conclusions:

• RPM in APD offers advantages like personalized prescriptions, improved follow-up, and proactive care.
• RPM can enhance confidence for patients and nephrologists through increased visibility of therapy progress, potentially boosting APD adoption.
• Further evaluation is needed on RPM's long-term effects on patient outcomes, healthcare costs, and its influence on the broader use of PD, a technique linked to better survival through residual renal function preservation.