Improving Heart Care Treatment

Remote Monitoring Systems for Seniors Content Summary: This article examined the efficacy of remote monitoring systems on a couple of extremely salient factors for older patients who had experienced severe trauma related to heart disease: heart failure. The authors hypothesized that the utilization of these monitoring systems would enhance the treatment of such patients. They were able to produce quantifiable evidence that actually demonstrated the accuracy of their hypothesis in specific categories that included self-care, quality of life, and activation.

Activation is defined as "self-care knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy" in administering treatment and dealing with the repercussions of heart failure. The crux of the study was based on data produced by two different populations from the study's sample: one was able to utilize remote monitoring systems while the control was not. For three months of the authors of this work were able to collect data about the heart rate, blood pressure, and weight of all of the participants.

It is critical to note that the two groups were similar in a number of different demographics, including various facets of age, status of functionality (pertaining to their health conditions) and sex. The results were unambiguous. The more time went by, the more the patients that had access to remote monitoring systems -- and to data about their own particular conditions relating to heart failure -- were able to illustrate improvements in all three areas that were measured: activation, self-care, and quality of life.

Still, it provides quantitative encouragement for the continued use of remote monitoring systems and the good they can produce with older patients who have experienced cardiac difficulties. Evaluation/Implications: From a professional and academic point-of-view, this article and the research conducted within it are extremely credible. The authors predominantly teach and work at the University of California; the vast majority were stationed at locations in Los Angeles and Irvine. As such, there was a degree of lucidity in the article that definitely aided in their overall conviction.

For example, they provided definitions for all of the salient terms in this article so that there was little ambiguity regarding the particular variables they were researching and the reasons why they were researching them. The information provided in this article was useful to those who labor in professional settings, especially nurses, because it was about improving the efficacy of treatment for patients with heart issues.

The implications of the research are that remote monitoring systems should in fact be implemented when dealing with heart issues -- which is a vital piece of information that can improve the quality of life for patients. I tend to agree with the results of the author's study, that such systems can help patients. There is other research that supports this fact. Additionally, the principle strength of the study was in its research design, which provided little to no ambiguity about.