Health Information Technology
The positive effects of telemonitoring on hospital admissions and other clinical outcomes were more consistent with chronic pulmonary and cardiac conditions than with diabetes and hypertension, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association found. Authors defined telemonitoring as the use of communications technology to monitor patients' health status remotely.
Researchers reported that the magnitude and significance of telemonitoring on patients' conditions were inconclusive for all four chronic illnesses. However, the authors noted that patients complied with telemonitoring regardless of age, nationality or socioeconomic status.
The study concluded that telemonitoring appears to be a useful tool for patient management because it provides reliable and accurate data, helps patients manage their conditions and has the potential to improve their conditions (Paré et al., Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, June 2007).