Telehealth Program

Home telehealth care is a concept which arose and took hold during the 1990s. Its use has become an accepted and integral part of the traditional healthcare system. The simple definition of home telehealth care is that it is "health and education services delivered to patients in their homes in part by telecommunication devices like the telephone and measuring devices such as scales, blood pressure cuffs and pulse oximeters."

With the increased opportunity for frequent communication with our patients which telehealth care provides, our nurses are able to assess a patient's status and monitor progress as frequently as is needed  between home visits.

Patients who receive telehealth interventions can receive more comprehensive management, leading to more rapid stabilization, and ideally, learn how to become more competent in self-management skills.

Our telehealth program was originally designed for patients with heart failure to help prevent re-hospitalization. However, we use telehealth with patients with other diagnoses including chronic lung disease, liver disease, high-level anxiety, and fragile surgical patients.

The telehealth program allows us to monitor specific patients on a daily basis via telephone. Each of our telehealth patients is loaned equipment for monitoring any or all of the following:

• blood pressure

• blood oxygen levels

• weight

The patient is called daily by a nurse to determine how the patient is progressing. If the nurse believes that the patient is having significant changes, then the primary nurse is notified and home visit is made to the patient.