As per worldwide estimates nearly 86 million people have been diagnosed with the chronic lung disease, COPD and direct healthcare costs related to lung attacks amount to 10 billion Euros in Europe and more than 30 billion Euros worldwide. In this light MonitAir was developed by Dr. Peter Lucas in the Netherlands to give COPD patients a self management tool to monitor their health condition.
MonitAir is a smart self-test and a cutting- edge e-Health product which empowers and enables patients to monitor their COPD symptoms accurately, providing them with unprecedented insights into their condition and reducing the economic burden of healthcare consultations. MonitAir aims to bring in a transition in care for COPD patients. Starting with prevention and then enabling people to manage their own health for as long as possible.
This product is focussed on two principles, firstly, to work on further improvement of diagnostics and predictive value and secondly, striving hard for even more patient-friendly use, fail-safe and foolproof and intuitive. Doctors want to see patients intervene in their COPD symptoms at an earlier stage themselves so that they report to their doctors in time for better healthcare outcomes but unfortunately COPD patients only recognize the first symptoms of an emerging lung attack at a late stage. To cater to this problem, MonitAir has entered the market. This product is based on a self-learning algorithm which works on a patient’s smartphone to completely autonomously interpret patient data and provide advice to the patient without direct intervention of the healthcare provider. It is used at the patient’s home in consultation with a doctor and the patient is completely self-reliant until MonitAir feels it is necessary for a doctor to intervene. It is a way for early recognition and prompt action to reduce the severity and duration of a lung attack, prevent complications, reduce healthcare costs and improve quality of life.
MonitAir is self-explanatory and its app guides the patient through the process but still the care provider delivers the product to the user and guides him on its use. The product consists of a thermometer, an oximeter and a spirometer. The patient takes his measurements at home and enters them in the MonitAir application, together with the answers to 10 questions derived from an internationally recognised questionnaire and then receives preventive and personalised advice from the device which he/she can follow independently. There is a technical help desk, patient and care provider instructional videos, an optional professional training programme, proactive patient support by giving a signal if measurements are forgotten.
Presently MoniAir has its presence only in the Netherlands where it is being received very well by the users as well as the healthcare providers owing to which it will soon be rolled out to other nations. In the future, conditions like obstructive apnea and cardiac abnormalities will also be investigated for relevance and feasibility.
SOURCE: https://www.healtheuropa.eu/monitair-empowering-patients-monitor-symptoms-of-copd/111789/
