In short
Cardiac pacing and monitoring company Biotronik, tells us that results from its MoniC study showed web-based Biotronik Home Monitoring® not only improves patient care, but is also an extremely efficient and effective clinical tool.
The study was published in EP Europace by Thomas Vogtmann et. al. on November 9, 2012.
Background
Biotronik Home Monitoring® rapidly detects anomalies in patients’ cardiac health, continuously transmits data on a daily basis and notifies medical staff with appropriate alerts.
The MoniC study, conducted at the Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, addressed the feasibility, safety, workload and clinical usefulness of a centralised Biotronik Home Monitoring® model. Consisting of one monitoring center, the Berlin Charité, and 9 satellite clinics in Germany and Austria, 62 Biotronik pacemaker and 59 Biotronik ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) patients were monitored.
The Biotronik Home Monitoring® platform supports close interaction between a nurse with expertise in telemonitoring and the physician. The nurse’s role is to control Biotronik Home Monitoring® data flow on a daily basis and filter critical events or unclear interpretations to the physician. This model has gained wide acceptance in a singular high-volume center environment whereas the MoniC study tested this approach in a multicenter setting.
So to the results: The study showed that centralized Biotronik Home Monitoring® is reliable, beneficial and efficient: basic screening and communication of relevant arrhythmic and technical events required a total of 1.1 minutes of a physician’s time and 30 minutes of a trained nurse’s time each day per 100 patients monitored by the centre.
Supported by reliable automatic data transmission from the implanted devices, satellite clinics rated 73.7% of received basic screening messages as “valuable,” with a reaction rate of 37.4% (phone call to the patient, emergency appointment, hospitalization) and an impact on treatment in 15.8%. Additionally, 67.4% of extended screening messages were rated as “valuable,” leading to a reaction rate of 27.2% and an impact on treatment in 7.6% of those patients.
Physician comments
“Previous studies such as TRUST1,2 and COMPAS3 showed that using automated daily Biotronik Home Monitoring pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) patients improves patient care,” explained Dr. Thomas Vogtmann, cardiology practice “Am Park Sanssouci”, Potsdam. “The MoniC study demonstrates that Biotronik Home Monitoring® eases the clinical routine associated with patient monitoring.”
Company comments
“MoniC underlines the all-around positive impact Biotronik Home Monitoring® has every day in our study clinics,” commented Christoph Böhmer, President International at Biotronik. “This trial clearly demonstrates the large potential for efficiency gains and therapy improvements, which are important parameters for health care decision makers. It’s a clear win-win for both patients and physicians, no matter what size the clinic.”
Source: Biotronik AG
