Human and organisational aspects of remote patient monitoring in residential care homes.
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Date
2007-11-30
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Abstract
Demographic changes in the population with a growing proportion of elderly people make the efficient and effective provision of healthcare for this age group an increasingly important issue We examine the organisational and human aspects of introducing a Remote Patient Monitoring RPM system that uses wireless and broadband networks into three residential care homes in the UK Stakeholders were identified and semi structured one to one interviews were carried out in order to identify issues deemed most important to each group The work is novel as it requires examination of the issues of communication between healthcare workers in several primary and secondary care organisations The key finding was the need to identify the changes in working practice and interpersonal communication A key factor in particular was the change in relationships staff in the remote centre needing to learn to seek support when reporting and requesting assistance for a problem and for the staff at the health centres to respond appropriately