Heart/Stroke: REMOTE POSSIBILITIES
Innovative, portable pager-size devices allow heart patients to be remotely monitored from around the world.
BY:ERIC FEIL
Keeping tabs on devices like an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (IDC) or pacemaker no longer means having to see a doctor face-to-face. Employing portable pager-size devices and a telephone, heart patients can be remotely monitored from around the world with cardiac services from Raytel, Aerotel and others.
"It's convenient and immediate," says Lawrence J. Gessman, MD, director of electrophysiology at the Cooper Heart Institute, who remotely monitors a number of the patients in his Camden, NJ, practice. "It is usually faster than getting to a doctor."
With a monitor attached to the chest and a small device clipped to one's belt, patients can be checked perpetually as well as have vital stats analyzed by their own doctor should an emergency occur. The person's doctor can then instantly contact the ER staff with the patient's medical history and other pertinent information.
"One of my patients had a seizure while in Florida, and the hospital there thought the cause was neurological," Dr. Gessman recalls. "I had them send me the information, and it was actually an arrhythmia; his defibrillator was a little slow. I was able to pinpoint the problem and help them out."
Telemedicine service also can make time more manageable for heart patients and caregivers. Instead of visits to the office for routine checks on IDC function or low pacemaker batteries, remote checks can be done while patients stay in the comfort of their own homes-or even hotel rooms.
"Being able to go on vacation is important for quality of life," notes Dr. Gessman, who monitors patients located more than an hour from his office and many who travel to Florida during the winter. "Being able to do it knowing that your doctor can help in an emergency makes it that much more relaxing."