Patients "Stay Connected" with Home Monitoring System

David Parker has spent a large part of his life on the theatrical stage; his first role was in 1939 and his most recent was last year. So you can imagine it’s rare when he misses a cue.

In recent weeks, his stage had been a bright little box sitting next to his bed – HomMed Home Monitoring System, a device that collects clinical data such as heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, weight and temperature. The information is sent instantaneously to a nurse on duty at the Visiting Nurse Association of Houston.

The HomMed device cued Parker each day to take his vital signs, guiding him through the process with a friendly, electronic voice. In addition to his ongoing clinical data, the device also prompted Parker with a number of "yes or no" questions that gave the VNA nurse clues to his quality of life.

After performing in dozens of Houston plays over the years, Parker, 70, has a new role now – after battling congestive heart failure for 17 years, he received a heart assist device in September at The Methodist DeBakey Heart Center to keep him alive while he awaited a transplant. On Nov. 17, Parker received a heart transplant at Methodist.

While awaiting his transplant, Parker used the HomMed system to help the VNA keep track of his progress. He was able to slip a blood-pressure cuff over one arm, and attach a finger probe to measure heart rate and oxygen saturation. He stepped on a scale to record his weight. A digital thermometer, attached to the unit, recorded his temperature. The information was sent via wireless phone to the VNA offices.

"Both my wife and I had greater peace of mind knowing that I was being monitored this way," Parker said.

But if any of Parker’s vital signs or other medical parameters fell outside of their present limits, VNA registered nurse Steve Your, says he could catch it through the monitoring system.

The HomMed program has been in place since mid-September. The first patients to try it came through the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center, and most are congestive heart failure patients like Parker. The system is also in use for some patients at Methodist Sugar Land and San Jacinto Methodist Hospitals.

"The system is adaptable to just about any patient that we need to monitor," said licensed vocational nurse Barbara Wilson, the HomMed coordinator at VNA. "The device can monitor those with respiratory problems – such as lung cancer patients – through a spirometer attachment. We can monitor glucose levels and diet in diabetics, and every bit of this information can be sent immediately to the patient’s physician."

Currently, the system is serving 28 patients, but as clinicians see the system’s effectiveness, more can be added at any time. Wilson said the VNA is currently studying a way to set up a HomMed device to serve all the live-in patients at a skilled nursing facility in Houston. It could even be combined with a video telemedicine system to monitor patients who are undergoing physical therapy.

"Everyone who has seen this device just loves it, and we are still finding new uses for it," said registered nurse Debora Simmons, an advanced practice nurse at The Methodist DeBakey Heart Center. She works with patients who have congestive heart failure, and heartily endorses the HomMed system.

"Physicians like the results. But most important is the freedom it gives patients," Simmons said. "It gives them back control of their lives."

That’s what David Parker said he appreciated most – the freedom. Although he was attached to battery packs to power his heart assist device, he was able to move around his home and even take short walks outdoors. And with the HomMed system, a nurse was never far away.

"You never know," he said after receiving his transplant, "I might be back on the stage soon."

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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