(79) Impact of Providing At-Home Medical Device Kits on Remote Monitoring of Individuals with Cystic Fibrosis

Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a chronic, multi-system disease that can greatly affect quality of life, so it is important for CF patients to be closely evaluated. Routine care includes basic vitals measurement. This allows providers to assess respiratory, cardiovascular and nutritional status, all of which are aspects CF patients are at an increased risk of decompensation for due to the disease’s pathophysiology (1). Providing patients with home devices can improve access to vitals monitoring, which, in turn, can expand the scope of telehealth and bring attention to daily changes in a patient’s overall health (2). We predict that providing patients with medical devices to monitor vitals will benefit their overall health and well-being.

Methods: Medical device kits were offered to patients coming for their routine in-person visits at VCU Health Mayland Medical Center. Each kit contained the following devices: tape measure, pulse oximeter, thermometer, blood pressure apparatus, and weight scale. Prior to receiving the kit, patients who agreed to participate in this study filled out a pre-distribution survey that was modeled after the CDC HRQOL–14. If patients did not know how to use a device, they were instructed on its use by healthcare staff. Two weeks after kit receival, patients were emailed a post-distribution survey that assessed the usefulness of each medical device.

Results: Out of 18 patients, 17 (94.4%) agreed to participate in the study. From the pre-distribution survey, 11.76% of patients frequently monitored their vitals, 94.12% of those patients believed that using the devices would help improve the maintenance of their health, and 82.35% of patients were aware of the normal values for blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels, body temperature and how to measure height and weight.

From the post-distribution survey, 6 out of 17 (35.3%) patients responded. Out of the 6 patients, 6 (100%) stated that the devices had worked as intended and did not find the medical devices too time consuming. Of the 5 devices the patients received, the majority of patients found the pulse oximeter and blood pressure apparatus to be useful (100%), followed by the weight machine (75%), thermometer (50%), and tape measure (0%).

Conclusions: The majority of patients agreed that monitoring their vitals at home would help maintain and/or enhance their health (94.12%). However, prior to this study, only 2 (11.76%) indicated that they regularly self-measure their vitals. Being provided home devices was overall positively received by patients, with the pulse oximeter and blood pressure apparatus being the most popular. Reasons included ease of access and the ability to self-triage and determine the urgency of seeing a healthcare provider if feeling unwell. The results of this study highlight not only patient desires to be more involved with their health but also the importance of continuing to find ways to optimize remote monitoring during this COVID era.

Acknowledgements:

References: [1] Sullivan, J. S., & Mascarenhas, M. R. (2017). Nutrition: Prevention and management of nutritional failure in Cystic Fibrosis. Journal of cystic fibrosis: official journal of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society, S87–S93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcf.2017.07.010

[2] Vagg, T., Shanthikumar, S., Morrissy, D., Chapman, W. W., Plant, B. J., & Ranganathan, S. (2021). Telehealth and virtual health monitoring in cystic fibrosis. Current opinion in pulmonary medicine, 27(6), 544–553. https://doi-org.proxy.library.vcu.edu/10.1097/MCP.0000000000000821