The benefits of remote patient monitoring have always been clear to the healthcare community. Not only does it reduce the number of trips patients have to make to a clinic, it can also help caregivers to detect a problem before the patient requires a visit to an emergency room or admission at a hospital. Early intervention can also mean better health outcomes – not to mention improved quality of life for patients, by being able to manage more routine health needs from home.

Remote monitoring has become infinitely easier in our digitally connected world. Today’s smartphones and tablets can be used for everything from sending text messages and listening to music, to monitoring your vital signs and sending reminders. More importantly, they are becoming an integral part of healthcare delivery. In fact there are over 100,000 healthcare apps being used by patients, caregivers and clinicians today.

This is not surprising given that statistics from comScore show that more than 62% of Canadian phone owners 55 years and older owned a smartphone. In addition, over 1.5 million Canadians used mobile devices exclusively to access the internet. As technology evolves and becomes easier to deploy, using an app on a mobile device is broadening its appeal from younger generation users to patients of any age, from children to seniors.

Remotely Monitoring Pacemakers

Pacemakers have presented an interesting evolution of remote monitoring practices over the years. In fact pacemakers, which were introduced in the 1950s, were the first implanted medical devices to allow people to transmit their data over telephone lines – a huge plus in enabling patients to send information without having to visit a clinic for routine checks.

By today’s standards, early monitoring systems for implanted devices were cumbersome and the information they gathered was basic (mainly battery status). About 10 years ago, second generation pacemaker devices were able to report more data, including battery status, historical data, and diagnostic information.

Even with that advancement, the process required a dedicated instrument that needed to be connected to a standard analog telephone line. A wand would have to be passed over the pacemaker device to take and transmit readings.

Given pacemaker patients are generally older, the process was often overly complicated.. Another limitation was that these systems could only be used within continental North America, which restricted travel options for many. Patients also had to use a specific telephone service provider.

World’s first mobile app for pacemaker monitoring

With smartphones and tablets and the near-universal access to Wi-Fi or cellular services, all this has changed. One of the latest developments is the world’s first app-based remote monitoring system for pacemakers, called MyCareLink Smart™, introduced in January of this year in Canada by Medtronic. This new app lets patients with select pacemakers use a smartphone to transmit their pacemaker data to their clinic. It’s a much easier option than having to work with dedicated technology from the pacemaker company.

Not only is the technology familiar to most patients as well as family members, it means monitoring and reporting can be conducted from almost anywhere in the world where there is access to an internet connection. Patients on the move can also transmit the information to a care provider so they can ensure monitoring timelines are met. They can also share this information with a family member.

Pacemaker inventor uses app

A perfect example of how convenient and efficient this app can be is Earl Bakken who is 92. He lives in Hawaii and uses his smartphone to send his pacemaker transmissions from the comfort of his home. Bakken is a familiar name in healthcare technology circles. He was the person who developed the first external, battery-operated wearable artificial pacemaker in 1957 and is the founder of Medtronic, one of the largest medical technology companies in the world. It seems fitting that he can now benefit from the technology he helped create.

As the population of patients requiring remote monitoring grows, technology needs to keep pace with easy-to-use, reliable solutions. The rapid growth in app-based solutions – and increasing acceptance on the part of patients of all ages – offers a promising future for remote monitoring.