TY - JOUR T1 - Use of telemedicine in patients with chronic respiratory failure JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 42 IS - Suppl 57 SP - P5101 AU - Shokoofe Eslami AU - Rita Le Donne AU - Maria Teresa Pugliesi AU - Elia Pochini AU - Giacinto Di Gianfilippo AU - Paola Lunari AU - Luigina Quondamstefano AU - Simona Silvestri Y1 - 2013/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P5101.abstract N2 - Telemedicine is an innovative approach to help the medical team that integrates hospital and territory in a chronic patient care.The aim of this study is to evaluate it’s effectiveness in a sample of patients with Chronic Respiratory Failure (CRF).From June 2009 through February 2013 a specialized nurse followed the main vital signs of 64 patients(28 Male, 36 Female; mean age 71.6 ± 9.3 years) in Long Term O2 Therapy(LTOT) and/or mechanical ventilation (VM). In the presence of variation of vital signs and conditions of patients, a general practitioner and the specialist pulmonologist were alerted by these changes. The average number of days of hospitalization and daily average consumption of O2 in the year prior to enrollment were compared to those found in the next two years of study. For evaluating statistical significance, the Student's t test was used.During this observation period, 8 patients (10.9%) have abandoned the project and 22 patients (34.4%) died of their complication (higher mortality rate seen among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (64.7%)). In 26 patients (Male 6, Female 20; average age 66.5± 13.4), with at least one year follow up has detected a statistically significant reduction in the average of daily consumption of O2 (2601,8± 1683,7 versus 1930,4± 1643,3 l/day -p=0,018) and number of days of hospitalization (16,9± 25,9 versus 4,3± 8,3 days -p=0,027), and the result preserved in 21 patients with two years follow up (17,3± 28,2 versus 4± 8 -p=0,034).The data demonstrates the usefulness and effectiveness of a "Tele-nursing" and "telemonitoring"in patients with severe respiratory disease which are in LTOT and/ or VM. ER -