Interactive Heart Monitoring System

A new interactive disease management system, dubbed the "electronic nurse,” helps monitor the vital signs of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients in their homes.

The home health agency of Montefiore Medical Center (New York, NY, USA) is using the system to supplement regular nursing visits to the homes of CHF patients. An "e-nurse” system is assigned to each patient and attached to a regular push-button phone in the patient's home. Patients use the system daily to monitor their vital signs and transmit the data through the phone line.

Each day, the interactive system asks patients a series of self-help medical questions concerning their health. To participate in the program, a patient must be fifty years or older, have a primary diagnosis of congestive heart failure, have a touch-tone telephone, and be able to stand on the system's scale independently.

The electronic scale measures changes in weight, a key indicator of worsening heart failure, and a peak flow meter checks lung capacity, an indicator of worsening asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A glucometer measures blood sugar levels, which are key to managing diabetes, and blood pressure levels are monitored for hypertension. A pulse oxymeter reads oxygen levels in the blood, which help to determine interventions needed for patients with asthma and COPD.

"If anything is amiss with changes in their weight, blood pressure, pulmonary function, blood sugar rate or heart rate, one of our doctors or nurses contacts the patient and determines any necessary medical interventions,” said Sandra Selikson, M.D., medical director of Montefiore medical center's home health agency. "We can repeat taking vital signs electronically any time of the day and monitor disease processes more closely so we can treat problems early, before they become more serious and require hospitalization.”





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Montefiore Medical Center