Clinical Research Directory

Telemonitoring to Optimize Medication Titration for Heart Failure: a Feasibility Study

Problem: Aggressive titration of guideline-directed medical therapy is the cornerstone of heart failure management to reduce heart failure related hospitalization and mortality. A major hurdle to uptitration of medical therapy is the safety concerns of these medications namely hypotension and bradycardia. Early and frequent clinic visits will be required to ensure the safe uptitration of these treatments, but this is difficult to implement in daily practice due to resources constrain. Advancement in wearable and wireless technologies enables remote and continuous monitoring of patients in ambulatory setting and potentially achieving safe and effective uptitration of medical therapy while minimizing the demand on the current healthcare system. However, access to these wearable and wireless technologies is not universal and patients in low socio-economic tiers might be deprived of the opportunity to realize the benefits from these technologies. Solution: This project therefore aims to develop a mobile platform and to provide wearable devices to patients with acute heart failure to improve and optimize the use of guideline-directed medical therapy in these patients. Impacts: The finding from this project will inform future heart failure management and help to implement and integrate telemedicine in the vulnerable stage of heart failure care. It will help to maximize healthcare resources utilization and help to bridge the gap between those who have limited access to healthcare services. The model of heart failure care generated from this project can be propagate and replicated in general patients care.