St. Peter - Through the use of new, in-home telemonitoring technology, patients served by Good Samaritan Society Home Care throughout Blue Earth, Brown, Le Sueur, Nicollet and Sibley counties are getting a checkup every day in the comfort of their homes.

"The Honeywell HomMed Health Telehealth Monitoring System is the latest technology that enables us to deliver high-quality care to out patients by providing us with daily, real-time clinical information regarding trends in their health status," said Nancy Vogel, R.N., Director of Home Care in a press release.

In-home telemonitoring uses telecommunications devices placed in patients' homes to take their vital signs. The technology brings benefits to patients and health care professionals and has a significant impact on patient care and quality of life.

When patients' vital signs are taken daily, irregularities can be caught before they become full-fledged problems. Daily monitoring helps eliminate the two or three-day gaps of information that typically occur between home visits. Patients also become more aware of their condition and understand the effects diet, activity and other factors have on their health.

Every day, in just a few minutes, the system collects a variety of vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, body weight, and temperature. Peripherals, such as a glucose meter, a spirometer or peak flow meter to measure lung function, a PT/INR system to record blood clotting times, or an ECG device to monitor heart rhythms, can be attached for specialized patient care, this would pertain to such conditions as: Congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular conditions, osteoarthritis and patients taking blood thinners.

The system can also gather subjective health information, which further assists in evaluating the patient's condition. For example, a patient with high blood pressure might be asked, "Are you experiencing any dizziness today?"

The data is transmitted via a telephone line or digital wireless technology over a virtual private network for review by Good Samaritan Society clinicians.

Each patient has a pre-programmed set of limits for their individual vital sign readings. If those limits are broken, an alert appears on the computer screen. This allows the clinician to quickly prioritize which patients require immediate attention. With this system, healthcare professionals can detect and address even the slightest abnormalities before they become serious.

"This system will help us keep patients healthier and in their homes instead of in the hospital," adds Vogel.