WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Health Alert: Electronic nurse

Health Alert: Electronic nurse

(National) March 31, 2006 - Perhaps you've noticed that electronics and computers have invaded every aspect of modern life. Maybe you've also heard that there's also a serious nursing shortage. Put the two together and you get an electronic nurse.

One patient steps on the scale and hears, "Your weight is 170.5 pounds. You are below maximum allowed weight."

It is a bit of a nag, but it's for a potentially life-saving reason. Mary Bowers suffers from heart failure and keeping her alive and out of the hospital means staying on top of lots of warning signs and symptoms, something a nurse would often have to do.

The electronic nurse asks Bowers questions like, "Are your ankles or feet more swollen? Does your stomach feel more bloated? Are you urinating more than usual?"

Nurses are still involved of course, just in a more efficient way. The device allows Montefiore Medical Center's Home Health Agency to keep closer tabs on their patients.

Pamela Joacham of the Montefiore Medical Center talks about how the machine supplements the patients' visits to the center, "If we were seeing the patients one or two times a week, we are now seeing them one or two times a week plus we have daily contact with them through this telemonitoring."

Once Mary goes through her electronic checkup each morning, her information is transmitted through the phone line and reviewed by a nurse back at the hospital. If there are any red flags and the live nurse calls the patient and, if needed, consults the doctor.

Rudolph Francis is Mary's husband, and the electronic nurse gives him security too because, "If anything goes wrong it can be looked at right away and then changed, and it worked out pretty good because her medication has been changed a couple of times and a medication added."

The electronic nurse is making a difference. Joacham says, "There is a very much decrease in emergency visits, re-hospitalizations even physician visits. We get it early on so those visits are really decreased tremendously."

Montefiore hopes to expand the program to include diabetics by the end of this year.

The machine costs about $70 depending on features and which vital signs you're monitoring. For now the hospital is covering the cost while they try to get insurance companies to foot the bill.

You can find more information on the Montefiore Medical Center website>>

Posted 10:29am by Chantelle Janelle