TELEMONITORING OF PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE IN PORTUGAL: A CASE STUDY FOR THE TELEMONITORING OF CHRONIC PATIENTS IN PORTUGAL: A CASE STUDY FOR THE TELEMONITORING OF CHRONIC PATIENTS IN PORTUGAL

Resumo

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a common, preventable and treatable disease, defined by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. Acute COPD episodes have a dramatic impact on the patient and family quality of life and are a significant burden for the healthcare systems. The remote monitorization of COPD patients enables the prompt clinical intervention whenever needed, preventing acute episodes and delaying disease progression. Here we report the implementation of a telemonitoring initiative for COPD patients served by the regional hospital of Alto Minho, Portugal, using a full-customized turnkey solution developed by an external company. The COPD telemonitoring initiative was implemented in 2014 with a total of 130 patients enrolled. The initiative has originated very positive outcomes with improvements between 59,1 and 69,1% for the number of urgency episodes, hospital admissions, days at hospital, and costs. High levels of patient and family satisfaction were also recorded with positive responses above 87,5% in all dimensions evaluated by the questionnaire. In conclusion, the telemonitoring system for COPD patients has generated significant improvements in value-based healthcare. We purpose that telemonitoring initiatives should be implemented nationwide and enlarged to all other chronic diseases, whenever it is clinically viable.