Homecare Nurses' Experiences with Home Telemonitoring Systems

To reduce healthcare costs and to better serve an aging population suffering from chronic disease, advancements in telemedicine like home telemonitoring are being used to improve the effectiveness of outpatient and homecare services. The purpose of this study was to expand upon the telemonitoring qualitative literature to describe home care nurses’ lived experiences with a home telemonitoring program. Separate interviews with four homecare nurses currently employed by a visiting nurse service and working directly with home telemonitoring were conducted. The interviews were analyzed using a phenomenological framework to identify common themes. For these nurses the benefits of home telemonitoring were the same as the ways through which home telemonitoring works. These included early detection of signs and symptoms of disease exacerbation especially for congestive heart failure patients, improved coordination of care, improved disease self-management, and early detection of educational and self-care deficits from frequent contact with the telehealth nurse. Barriers to the effectiveness of telemonitoring included patient anxiety, patient physical or cognitive deficits, and technical limitations of the system. These findings increase the understanding of home telemonitoring from the perspective of nurses involved with its implementation and have implications for future research.