Bendigo Health to introduce at-home monitoring system for suspected coronavirus patients
Technology allowing patients to be monitored by healthcare workers from home will be brought in at a regional hospital to free up medical resources and beds.
A BENDIGO hospital will employ the use of a remote care monitoring system to check on suspected coronavirus patients from the safety of their own homes.
Bendigo Health will be one of the first hospitals in Australia to adopt the telehealth technology – produced by Siemens Healthineers – which allows healthcare workers to monitor their patient’s symptoms and health vitals remotely, freeing up valuable medical resources and reducing the spread of infection.
Geriatrician and clinical director of integrated care service at Bendigo Health Professor Marc Budge said they had trialled the application on current geriatric patients and could see the benefits the program would have for the community.
“The teamplay myCare Companion ‘Pandemic’ will provide a platform for Bendigo Health to more safely deliver patient care and support in the community whilst preserving inpatient beds for more serious presentations with COVID-19 infections” Mr Budge said.
“Importantly, we can also more effectively prevent hospital admission for those with chronic disease; a group at high risk of poorer outcomes in this pandemic.”
The program can update doctors and nurses of each patient’s conditions and track if they are deteriorating, through data collected by monitoring devices.
It also allows the doctors to communicate with the patient and provide feedback and reassurance from a distance.
Michael Shaw, managing director of Siemens Healthineers ANZ, said the use of this technology would help alleviate concerns over the availability of medical resources and hospital beds.
“The unique application of this telemedicine platform represents the future of managing increased demands on the healthcare system.,” he said.
“(The program) will, in particular, give greater and safer control to doctors and nurses over managing vital medical resources in the fight against COVID-19.”
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