Piloting a Novel eHealth Technology for the Control and Management of Elevated Blood Pressure in Rwanda...

Area of Science:

• * Digital health interventions
• * Cardiovascular disease management
• * Noncommunicable disease (NCD) control

Background:

• * Effective blood pressure (BP) monitoring is crucial for hypertension management and treatment adjustments.
• * The HeartCare@Home system is an innovative, locally designed eHealth technology for hypertension management in Rwandan outpatient NCD clinics.
• * The system integrates a mobile health app with SMS technology, a clinic-level dashboard, and a clinical decision support algorithm.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To assess the clinical efficacy of the HeartCare@Home system.
• * To evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the novel eHealth technology.
• * To determine the system's effectiveness in managing elevated BP in an outpatient NCD clinic in Rwanda.

Main Methods:

• * Pilot study employing an interventional crossover design.
• * 140 hypertensive patients allocated to intervention or standard care groups, with 6-month follow-up (3 months per group).
• * Data collection via mobile app for intervention group and patient files for control group; feasibility and acceptability assessed using specific tools.

Main Results:

• * Development of the HeartCare@Home system, a technical infrastructure for hypertension control.
• * Introduction of a new healthcare model with home-based BP monitoring and real-time patient-clinician communication.
• * Findings will inform the potential scalability of the system to other NCD clinics.

Conclusions:

• * The HeartCare@Home project addresses low BP control rates, delayed consultations, and cardiovascular mortality in hypertensive patients.
• * The eHealth technology infrastructure shows promise for improving hypertension management.
• * The system's design suggests potential scalability to other healthcare settings.