What are the technical challenges in Remote Patient Monitoring
The covid-19 pandemic outbreak has taught us that we all need a smart health support system to provide hassle-free health care delivery. Implementation of lockdown and social distancing has made the people stay away from hospitals, despite suffering from various illnesses. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a digital technology that facilitates communication between patients and the clinical team. It allows the clinicians to access and the patients’ health data remotely and delivers high-quality health care. Remote patient monitoring has enabled the healthcare system to provide uninterrupted service during the pandemic. Remote patient monitoring helps to track, monitor, and analyze the symptoms. It helps to identify changes in the vital signs and disease progression.
The global market value for remote patient monitoring is set to witness a surge by 2025. It can potentially resolve many health problems remotely and check the patient’s health condition with fewer costs than a regular hospital visit. For the past few years, the evolving technologies in the healthcare industry have been impactful and have become powerful tools for better health outcomes. Apart from reducing the chances of chronic health conditions, these advanced technology tools like remote patient monitoring are saving people’s money and time.
Any conventional healthcare setting that uses advanced technology becomes challenging to understand and operate the same. Although a team on behalf of a healthcare provider helps you understand remote patient monitoring, some people might face technical challenges while managing RPM devices and other aspects associated with RPM.. Basic knowledge of accessing mobile apps and web portals is necessary to use the RPM platform effectively. One needs to have a minimum knowledge to make use of technology-associated health services like remote patient monitoring.
Telehealth and RPM allows a patient can consult a doctor at their convenience. Despite some of the technical challenges in remote patient monitoring services, it greatly helps to limit hospital visits and helps in cost-cutting. Healthcare services currently require a greater number of resources and a vast space to carry out their operations. In the current global pandemic, RPM solutions are helping healthcare providers to deliver primary care remotely.
Challenges in handling RPM technology
Remote patient monitoring enables patients and healthcare professionals to solve health problems with hassle-free solutions. Medical devices embedded with wearable technology like smartwatches, heart monitors, skin patches etc., provide time-to-time health data of a patient. Monitoring a patient’s health, data storage, user experience, security, and retrieving the data are some of the common technical challenges experienced by the user and clinicians.
Some of the common barriers experienced while using RPM technology are as follows:
Data Accuracy:
RPM platform is entirely based on the technology and the embedded devices that provide a patient’s health status. Data accuracy is of great concern with RPM adoption. To diagnose and treat the patients, it is necessary to obtain the highest possible accuracy over the medical devices connected to an RPM setup. The accuracy of the data plays a crucial role, especially while treating a chronic condition. The data collected and retrieved by the medical staff helps the doctor to prescribe the treatment. There are chances that the devices might record marginal errors, and sometimes, it becomes hard to predict if the values are accurate.
Data Storage:
RPM generates a massive volume of data that gets stored in the cloud. The data collected from the RPM devices is stored in a relational database, which facilitates further process and analysis. The data storage framework organizes the data and enables quick access to it whenever necessary.
Data Security:
Remote patient monitoring utilized various technologies to monitor, collect and analyze the patients’ health data. The patient’s health data is recorded and stored in the hospital database. Cloud technology allows storage and retrieves the information whenever necessary. Protecting the data requires best management practices. Most of the time, hospitals assign data management to third parties where patients’ data privacy is concerned. Developing a framework with high confidentiality and security is often challenging to the RPM providers.
Cost of the devices:
It includes a specific range of cost to set up remote patient monitoring at home. Most commonly, one would need specific RPM devices to track the health condition regularly. Remote patient monitoring is a cost-effective solution to have track of health condition. However, an initial amount is required to spend on the RPM devices like blood pressure monitor, oximeter, glucometer etc. The amount spent on these medical devices is minimal and a one-time investment.
RPM initiatives are an effective way to adapt to new technologies and provide better health care to the vastly growing population. When it comes to data capturing, the role of artificial intelligence in remote patient monitoring is significantly revolutionizing the healthcare industry. The RPM platform shows a potential impact on the health and safety aspects.
