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Telehomecare:
Bringing Telehealth Technology Home
Kathy
Bowles, PhD, RN
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Kathryn
H. Bowles, PhD, RN (Assistant Professor, UPenn
SoN) and clinicians from the Visiting Nurse Association
of Greater Philadelphia (VNA) ) have developed expertise
in telehomecare through several research projects
conducted at the VNA. The first project was sponsored
by the Department of Commerce's Telecommunication
Information Infrastructure Assistance Program now
known as the Technology
Opportunities Program. This project, led by Penn
State University Associate Professor, Kathryn Dansky
studied the use of telehomecare with elderly diabetics.
Dr. Bowles was the Clinical Coordinator for that
project and went on to lead two additional pilot
projects to expand the use of the technology to
congestive heart failure patients. |
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Dr.
Kathy Bowles |
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Together,
Drs. Bowles and Dansky have published several articles and made
national presentations about this promising technological innovation.
Dr. Bowles and the VNA have plans to continue to experiment
with the technology to test the effectiveness and efficiency
of a variety of treatment patterns for elderly homebound patients
requiring frequent monitoring of their chronic conditions.
| Telehealth
technology utilizes modern telephone communications media
to support long-distance clinical health care. Nurses
are able to make "video visits" to a patient's
home via a monitor that receives and transmits images
as well as information about blood pressure, pulse, blood
glucose, and other medical parameters. While not replacing
home visits entirely, the technology of Telehealth does
reduce the number of home visits, and allows the visiting
nurse more visits to patients in a single day.
As
a result of changes in the reimbursement structure from
per visit to episodic reimbursement, Dr. Bowles believes
the financial benefits of Telehealth will ensure its growth,
particularly with the current nursing shortage. |
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Bowles
as patient at telehealth monitor taking her blood pressure
which is transmitted to the PC at the central nursing
station. |
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Nurse monitoring a patient's progress at
the central station |
Dr.
Bowles notes a great value of the technology is that,
when using the machine, patients take more responsibility
for their care and learn to understand their readings.
In addition, nurses can see more patients in a day, some
studies report as many as 20 per day using telehomecare
versus only 4-6 traditional in-person home visits. The
savings in nurse time, travel, and prevention of hospitalizations;
along with closer monitoring, all add up to equal or better
outcomes at less cost. |
For more
information about research on Tele-Health, please
contact Dr. Kathy
Bowles.
| PUBLICATIONS
on TELE-HEALTH |
Dansky,
K.H., Bowles, K., & Britt, T. (1999). Nurse's
responses to telemedicine in home health care. Journal
of Health Information Management, 1394), 27-38.
Dansky,
K.H., Bowles, K., Palmer, L. (1999). How
telehomecare affects patients. Caring, 18(8):10-14.
Dansky,
K.H., Palmer, L., Shea, D., & Bowles, K. (2001). Cost
analysis of telehomecare. Telemedicine Journal and e-Health,
7(3), 225-232.
Dansky,
K.H., Bowles,
K. (2002) Lessons
learned from a telehomecare project. Caring. 21(4):18-22.
Bowles,
K., Dansky, K.H. (2002)
Teaching
self-management of diabetes via telehomecare.
Home Healthcare Nurse. 20(1):36-42.
Bowles,
K.H., Sharpen decision-making with computerized support tools.
Nursing Management. 2004 Oct; 35 Suppl 5:19-20.
| PRESENTATIONS
on TELE-HEALTH |
Bowles,
K. and Dansky, K.H. (2000, September 6). "Telemedicine
in Home Health Care." Hospital Association of Pennsylvania.
Harrisburg, PA. (powerpoint presentation)
Bowles,
K and Dansky, K.H. Using
TELEHOME CARE To Improve Home Health Services For Diabetic Patients
(powerpoint presentation)
Joan Doyle
and Kathy Bowles "A
Natural Experiment: Impact of PPS on Home Care Utilization and
Quality Outcomes." Academic Nursing Practice: Using
Telehomecare. University of Pennsylvania, April 17, 2001.
Kathy Bowles
and John Carlson, "Telehealth
in Homecare: A Health Care Technology Demonstration."
Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia, PA, July 26,
2002.
| SELECTED
LINKS on TELE-HEALTH |
| The
above listed initiative is just one of many
ongoing studies or projects by our Penn Nursing
scholars. For
more information on other Penn Nursing experts,
or to
request a CONSULTATION, please contact |
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