Persons with asthma, hypertension and diabetes make measurements and notes in their everyday life as part of their care. For nurses and doctors, data written in paper forms is cumbersome to handle and also prone to error. Paper forms can also go missing. Visibility to the status of patients between appointments is poor.
The CE-approved Balance remote monitoring service transforms monitoring of chronic conditions from paper records to up-to-date digital data. Patients report their readings with an easy-to-use mobile application, and healthcare professionals have fast and easy access to reliable up-to-date results and ready-made reports. This saves time and improves care quality. Digital self-monitoring data also facilitates virtual appointments which are increasingly used to improve the accessibility and cost effectiveness of healthcare services.
Balance offers a handy digital solution for diagnostic PEF testing and produces a complete report for healthcare professionals in accordance with treatment guidelines. The patient can complete the test with a basic affordable peak-flow meter and record the results with the mobile app. If the series of blows does not meet the quality requirements, the user is instructed to make more blows.
When diagnosed asthma is managed, patients report PEF test readings, asthma control tests (ACT™) and information about asthma attacks easily using the Balance service, and the results can be readily viewed by doctors and nurses. The shared data makes communications faster and helps to allocate resources, for example physical appointments, in a more cost-efficient manner.
Balance also includes a module for recording serial PEF measurements in investigations to diagnose work-related asthma. It guides the individual to make PEF tests at correct times and produces a complete report for nurses and doctors. PEF measurements are usually made with an electronic meter that saves the results to the service, thus removing the need to enter them manually.
Users of blood pressure medicines form a large group of patients. Good tools are needed for quality and productivity in monitoring their treatment.
Medication changes and prescription renewals are more accurate and efficient when home blood pressure test results are digitally available. Healthcare professionals receive ready-made reports of readings that patients have recorded with the mobile app. These summaries can be quickly transferred to patient records. Use of new remote care approaches becomes easier and more reliable.
Balance is an efficient tool for professionals to monitor patients with different diabetes types. Blood glucose readings are wirelessly transferred to a logbook in a mobile device, and from there on to the cloud service so that professionals can view up-to-date data in between visits to the clinic. It is easy to report insulin doses and carbs with the mobile app.
The GS Smart blood glucose meter is a unique IoT solution especially for elderly persons with diabetes – readings are automatically transferred to the cloud service for professionals to view without any computer skills needed from the patient.
Balance service can be used in English, Finnish and Swedish.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 816000
