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Multicenter Study
. 2019 Aug 1:14:1713-1719.
doi: 10.2147/COPD.S202640. eCollection 2019.

Global use, utility, and methods of tele-health in COPD: a health care provider survey

Ahmed M Alrajeh  1   2 , Yousef S Aldabayan  1   2 , Abdulelah M Aldhair  1   3 , Elisha Pickett  1 , Shumonta A Quaderi  1 , Jaber S Alqahtani  1   4 , Marc Lipman  1 , John R Hurst  1
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Global use, utility, and methods of tele-health in COPD: a health care provider survey

Ahmed M Alrajeh et al. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. .

Abstract

Introduction: Advances in technology offer various solutions that might help optimize the care provided to patients living with chronic non-communicable diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the efficacy of tele-health in COPD is still controversial. Despite this, there appears to be widespread adoption of this technology.

Aim: To explore the international use of tele-heath for COPD, to assess the perceptions of clinicians employing tele-health in COPD, and to summarize the techniques that have been used by health care providers to personalize alarm limits for patients with COPD enrolled on tele-health programs.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey consisting of 15 questions was distributed and advertised to health care professionals worldwide. Questions were designed to cover five different aspects of tele-health in COPD: purpose of use, equipment type, clinician perceptions, variables monitored, and personalization of alarm limits.

Results: A total of 138 participants completed the survey from 29 different countries. As high as 59% of the participants had ever used tele-health for COPD, and 33% still provided tele-health services to patients with COPD. Tele-health was most commonly used for baseline monitoring, with 90% believing it to be effective. The three most commonly monitored variables were oxygen saturation, heart rate, and the use of rescue medication.

Conclusion: Twenty-nine different countries use tele-health for managing COPD and therefore there is widespread international use of tele-health in COPD. The majority of providers thought tele-health was effective despite evidence to the contrary.

Keywords: COPD; alarm limits; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; home monitoring; perception; tele-health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Professor JR Hurst reports grants, personal fees, non-financial support from Companies that make drugs to treat COPD, outside the submitted work. The authors declare no financial nor non-financial conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The geographical location of the respondents expressed in percentage. Other includes Serbia, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Slovenia, Malta, Ghana, Guyana, Namibia, Pakistan, Philippines, Niger, Singapore, South Africa, Sir Lanka, and Mongolia.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Variables being monitored by tele-health providers.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Perceived percentage of false alarms triggered from tele-health systems.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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