How the program works
The regular nursing follow-up program in connection and cooperation with the telemedicine center aims to:
- Absolute vigilance for early detection of incipient disorders.
- Optimal regulation of chronic diseases.
A healthcare professional regularly visits the examinee and measures:
- Arterial pressure
- Temperature
- Oxygen
- Heart beats
- Respiratory rate
- Body weight
- Muscle mass
- Body water
- Urine test
- Sugar recording
- Mood
All measurements are made with telemedicine devices, which automatically update the examinee’s electronic file.
The health professional during the first visit to the examinee records the history and creates the electronic online medical file , which will be – with the consent of the examinee – accessible by the doctors of the center.
The doctors of the center monitor:
- Pathological measurements
- Descending or Ascending course of oxygen, body weight, respiratory rate, heart rate and urine density.
The center’s doctors evaluate the measurements based on:
- Between measurements
- With the history
- With the medications taken
If necessary, the doctors of the center may recommend:
- Medical examination
- Hospitalization
The healthcare professional has with him at every visit:
- Telemedicine sphygmomanometer
- Telemedicine pulse oximeter
- Telemedicine thermometer
- Telemedicine body composition analyzer
- Telemedicine urine analyzer
- Tablet to connect to the telemedicine platform
The examinee can have it at home
- Telemedicine glucose meter for measurements according to the schedule.
- Telemedicine smart watch for 24-hour pulse recording.
At each visit, the healthcare professional selects the examinee’s tab on the tablet through the telemedicine platform . The following are automatically transferred to the tab:
- All the measurements made by the examinee with his own telemedicine blood sugar meter and the continuous heart rate recording from the smart watch.
- All the measurements he takes during the visit, with the devices he brings with him.
The doctors of the center have direct supervision:
- Individual measurements that display an “alarm” signal when they deviate from normal limits
- Graphs of variation of all parameters for each patient separately, as the downward or upward evolution of a parameter, before it deviates outside the normal limits, has diagnostic and prognostic significance.
The examinee or their caregivers receive a monthly report via email in pdf format with the price fluctuation graphs, averages, prevailing and extreme values recorded.
With each subscription to the Nursing Telemedicine program are offered free of charge :
- Creation of an electronic online medical record.
- Automatic updating of the file with examinations carried out in contracted laboratories.
- A blood check-up every three months.
- Electronic drug prescription once a month.
Importance of tracking metrics
A long list of diseases and life-threatening disorders can be diagnosed early and prevented with the Nursing Telemedicine program.
Arterial pressure
It is known that:
- High blood pressure usually causes no symptoms.
- Prolonged high blood pressure can cause:
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Stroke
- Dementia
- Renal failure
- Two out of three hypertensives develop the disease after the age of 65 .
- One in four does not know that he suffers from hypertension.
- One in two hypertensives does not regulate their blood pressure correctly .
Blood pressure monitoring helps:
- In the diagnosis of hypertension and the monitoring of the therapeutic effect.
- In identifying causes that increase pressure in people who are not hypertensive.
- In identifying causes that reduce pressure .
They are important:
- The average of the pressures.
- How high are the spikes.
- The upward or downward trend over time.
Temperature
It is known that fever (temperature > 38 0 C) is a sign of infection or, more rarely, of some other pathological condition (e.g. autoimmune disease or malignancy)
But small temperature increases (tenths) may be due to one of dozens of pathological causes .
Temperature has traditionally been one of the main factors in monitoring a person’s health status.
Heart beats
Many arrhythmias, as well as extracardiac causes, are manifested by heart rate changes, mainly tachycardias.
A common such condition is atrial fibrillation , which often “comes and goes” without being noticed.
24-hour heart rate recording is possible .
A gradual increase in heart rate can mean:
- Dehydration
- Blood loss (e.g. gastric bleeding)
- Infection
- Other causes of tachycardia
A sudden increase in heart rate can mean:
- Atrial Fibrillation
- Extraordinary contractions
- Other arrhythmias
Respiratory rate
It is a very sensitive indicator of a number of pathological and possibly life-threatening conditions, which can be prevented or cured if diagnosed in time such as:
- Infection
- Acidosis
- Pulmonary edema
- Pulmonary embolism
The healthcare professional measures the respiratory rate by observation and using a timer in 15 seconds.
Body composition analysis (fat, muscle mass, bone)
Fluctuations in body weight can be:
- Acute (over 50-100 g. per 24 hours)
- Gradual (less than 50 g per 24 hours)
Abrupt fluctuations are mainly related to body water and may indicate:
- Dehydration
- Fluid retention (heart failure, hypoalbuminemia, kidney disease)
Gradual fluctuations may, in addition to water, involve fat or muscle mass:
- Malnutrition
- Increased catabolism (eg malignancies)
- Thyroid gland disorders
- Loss of muscle mass
- Medicines .
The analysis of the composition of the body in water , fat , muscle and bone , facilitates the drawing of conclusions, diagnosis and treatment.
Conditions that can be prevented with daily body composition analysis
- Acute renal failure
- Pulmonary edema
Measuring the basic metabolism at home (within 2 minutes with a special machine) contributes decisively to identifying the cause of weight fluctuation.
Urinalysis
A large number of pathological conditions can be detected immediately with a simple urine test. Some of them are:
- UTI.
- Haematuria.
- Jaundice.
- Kidney disease.
- Diabetes.
- Malnutrition.
- Dehydration.
- Overhydration.
Mood
The examinee is invited to select by touching a tablet the emotional symbol (face) that expresses him at the time of the examination:
- Very bad
- A little bad
- Moderate
- Kinda good
- Very well
A change in mood is a sensitive indicator of the general state of health, both psychologically and organically (e.g. depressed mood may be associated with hypothyroidism).
