When I was with my mother in the hospital a few weeks ago, I noticed that one day she was hooked up to a telemetry machine that went directly to the nurses’ station, to check her vital signs. The next day, the machine was gone, and her vital signs were taken by a nurse at periodic intervals. I asked the nurse about this, and she said it’s really much better for patients to be hooked up to the nurses’ station’s telemetry screen, but the hospital can’t do that for every patient.
I am pleased to say that I work for a company that believes telemetry or telemedicine machines are such an important technology for all patients, including our own home health care patients, that it has invested tens of thousands of dollars in telemetry machines similar to those I saw in the hospital.
Since 2002, Nightingale/Aspire Home Healthcare has placed telemedicine machines in our patients’ homes. With Honeywell’s HomMed system, our clients can weigh themselves, take their blood pressure, monitor their oxygen statistics, and their heart rate at least four times a day, and via a simple phone line forward that information to a Nightingale/Aspire nurse who monitors the readings 365 days a year.
With our newly announced Intel Health Guide system, we are also able to upload physical therapy and occupational therapy exercises to a monitor we place in our clients’ homes, so that they can watch and follow the exercises they are supposed to do on the days their therapists do not visit. This is all cutting-edge technology and shows why Nightingale/Aspire is true to its motto of being “patient-focused.” I’m proud to work for a company that cares.
The Nightingale blog supports discussions about trends in health and healing practices, accessible to both doctors and patients and fostering an open, ongoing dialogue. For convenience, the blog is archived both by date and topic, with threads and supporting links clearly indicated.
