Heart failure algorithms for remote monitoring in people with cardiac implantable electronic devices

Outcomes

The established team are confident using the co-management platform and cascade learning to new heart failure nurses who join the team.

The team approach ensures that there is cover for the alerts during sickness, leave and vacancies.

The benefits realised by the study, highlighting a 58% reduction in all-cause hospitalisation, has featured in local establishment reviews and "cases for change" as it is compelling evidence of reduced hospitalisation.

Patient satisfaction is recorded and impressive. Even after discharge from regular reviews, patients value that their parameters are still being monitored and they are still on the heart failure team radar.

Learning

At the beginning of the project, there was an adjustment period for the teams to become accustomed to a slightly different way of working, specifically using the remote monitoring platforms and reviewing transmission data. The heart failure nurses and cardiac physiology teams both adapted to working more closely together, with occasional overlap in the management of device alerts. Reviewing remote monitoring data was a new skill for the heart failure nurses to learn, but navigating the platform was straightforward and the data was easy to find. Having the physiological data to hand positively complements the telephone assessments and at times assisted in identifying symptoms that the patients may have otherwise dismissed. The prompts within the assessment are also useful to guide clinical management plans. Assessing and managing a patient over the phone is a routine part of practice, so implementing the pathway was within the team's competency.