Self reported impacts of remote monitoring in England during COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the rapid adoption of digital tools for remote monitoring and continuity of care for people with long-term conditions.

Aim: To evaluate the patient (with cystic fibrosis and primary ciliary dyskinesia) and clinician experience with the NuvoAir Home platform (NuvoAir AB, Sweden).

Method: The NuvoAir Home platform consists of a smartphone application, bluetooth spirometer and clinician portal. An anonymous survey was emailed to 2008 patients (or parents for children) and 100 clinicians using the NuvoAir Home platform in December 2020.

Results: 248 (12%) patients and 31 (31%) clinicians responded. The majority of respondents (70%) had used the platform for 2-6 months (n=175). 80% of patients reported the NuvoAir technology gave reassurance during the pandemic. 85% indicated that measuring their lung function helped them feel more in control of their health, with 42% reporting an increased likelihood of taking their medication and 50% more likely to exercise. The technology was found to help people detect changes in lung function (88%) and understand their data trends (86%). 97% of patients rated the ability to share data with clinicians as ‘most useful’ with 76% preferring home monitoring vs. hospital monitoring. 100% of clinicians found the technology helpful to monitor patients’ lung health with 83% feeling confident making decisions using the data and 89% reporting it useful to visualise trends.

Conclusion: The NuvoAir Home platform was well accepted, enabling patients to understand trends in their health status and supported clinician and patient confidence in decision making. An increased likelihood of patients taking their medication and exercise was also observed.