Remote patient monitoring bridges the gap between healthcare providers and patients, extending care beyond the confines of traditional medical visits. While monitoring vital daily signs is important, the true value of RPM comes from the continuous connection and communication that monitoring nurses build with their patients. Optimize Health’s monitoring nurses are at the forefront of creating this deep engagement and see the tremendous impact RPM has on improving patient outcomes and quality of life.
In this ongoing blog series, we share powerful Real Patient Stories on the power of RPM to change lives.
Monthly Wellness Calls that Go Above and Beyond
A critical component of any RPM program is the requirement for synchronous communication with the patient. Texting about vital signs is important, but a monthly conversation with a healthcare professional often allows patients to truly open up about their physical and emotional health concerns. These conversations can reveal the need for additional care or can be a way for patients to take more proactive responsibility for their care while getting sound, trusted, medical advice.
One patient who was currently undergoing testing for possible cancer started chatting with her nurse during a monthly wellness call. While it started as a routine check-in, the patient started explaining more and more about what was going on with her health. Thirty minutes had passed quickly and the patient said, “Wow! I didn’t realize how much I was keeping bottled up inside of me! I don’t normally talk much about my health because it’s upsetting for my husband and my adult children to hear about it. I don’t want to worry them so I just keep it all to myself. Thank you for just listening to me!”
The power of RPM goes far beyond a medical device. With physicians so often needing to rush patients through in-person appointments, RPM enables patients to understand their health more by sharing with monitoring clinicians. A compassionate ear can go a long way. The Optimize nurse shared, that the patient “couldn’t stop thanking me for letting her release some of the ‘weight’ she was carrying around with her every day.”
Supporting the Critical Role of Caregivers
Many RPM patients are reliant on spouses or other caregivers at home to help with their daily needs. Caregivers are often unsung heroes dealing with a tremendous amount of stress as they struggle to manage the responsibilities of their own lives as well as their loved ones.
A hypertensive patient who was monitored by Optimize clinicians recently went blind. Her husband was taking the calls from the remote nurse as he helped his wife manage her blood pressure and learn how to function in every other aspect of her life. Both of them were grieving the loss of her vision and independence. He was struggling immensely with how to be strong for his wife while taking on new responsibilities and managing his roller coaster of emotions.
He was overwhelmed with everything on his plate and was not a tech-savvy person so he didn’t have the time or ability to find the right resources in their community, which were limited. The monitoring nurse recognized that getting the right holistic care was critical to keeping her patient healthy as stress is often a major trigger for hypertensive patients.
The nurse took the time to research and find resources for the blind community in their area, including how to find a local social worker to assist them. Optimize provided 10 contact points over a couple of weeks and continued to call back to follow up and check in. As the nurse explains, “He couldn’t express his gratitude enough and it truly made my heart happy to be able to help them in any way possible. Our work goes so far beyond just monitoring vital signs!”
Optimize Nurses Can Improve Patient Engagement and Outcomes
Remote patient monitoring provides continuous, proactive care while creating meaningful engagement with patients. Through consistent and compassionate support, Optimize monitoring nurses deliver both clinical and emotional value, creating long-lasting, impactful patient relationships. Contact us to see how Optimize can improve provider-patient relations at your practice.