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TELEMEDICINE CARE AFTER HEART ATTACK FOR SUSTAINABLE THERAPEUTIC SUCCESS

04.09.2013
MYCOR – TYROLEAN PILOT PROJECT FOR MORE TRANSPARENCY AND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

Cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction are the most common cause of death in Austria. Telemedicine care provides an efficient opportunity to sustain the success of acute therapy in the recovery phase. MyCor, a telemedicine pilot project, was presented in a joint press conference held in Tyrol by Regional Minister Univ.-Prof. Bernhard Tilg, SVA Deputy Chairman Peter McDonald and Priv.-Doz. Matthias Frick from the Innsbruck Medical University Clinic on Wednesday, 4th of September. The project aims to improve the health condition of patients after a heart attack and to reduce the risk of recurrence and secondary complications.

Persons who have recently suffered a heart attack or had a stent implanted are regarded as high-risk patients. “It is therefore all the more important to ensure appropriate care for these patients once they have been released from hospital”, said Matthias Frick. “This is where the MyCor project comes in. It is to ensure a higher degree of individual responsibility and thus promote compliance with medication and recommended changes in lifestyle. This approach will improve patients’ health condition in the long term and minimise the risk of recurrence.”

Telemonitoring clearly shows the patients that they are responsible for their health”, said Peter McDonald. “Patients can reduce the risk of recurrence by healthy eating, building exercise into their daily routine, minimising stress and reducing their weight.“ It is therefore essential for patients to actively take charge of their health after recovery. The telemedicine programme supports them in taking responsibility for their personal health and strengthens their health competence.  

Medication therapy and regular check-ups are essential after a heart attack. The patients’ compliance in following the lifestyle recommendations and medication therapy play an important role in this context. “From experience we know that patients often follow these recommendations only half-heartedly”, said Matthias Frick. This attitude strongly increases the risk of recurrence.

Tyrol has long played a pioneering role in the fields of medical innovation, e-health and medical technology. “We require state-of-the-art IT infrastructure and innovative medical technology to provide the best possible health care for our population“, said Tyrolean Health Minister Bernhard Tilg. Over the past few years the region has therefore placed a successful focus on the IT networking of the regional hospitals. But Tyrol has also developed into a technology leader in the field of innovative medical IT concepts and the implementation of modern health care structures, such as a treatment pathway for stroke patients. Present and planned activities include projects in teleradiology, exchange of electronic health records with practitioners or the piloting of e-medication. “The main future challenge will be to cope with an increasing number of chronically ill patients due to demographic developments. We are ready to accept this challenge and set the right course now. We expect that this pilot project focusing on telemedicine care after a heart attack will produce important findings on how the future of medicine in Tyrol may look”, said Regional Health Minister Tilg.

The pilot project may well be expanded regionally and telemonitoring may also be applied to other diseases such as hypertension, cardiac insufficiency or post-stroke treatment, McDonald said: “The possibility offered by telemedical care provides great potential for improving therapeutic success.”

The MyCor programme
A total of 25 patients treated at the Innsbruck University Clinic will take part in the eighteen month pilot phase of the MyCor programme. On their release from hospital patients will receive a telemonitoring set including a blood pressure monitor, a pedometer, a mobile phone and, if necessary, scales or a blood glucose meter.

This telemonitoring system developed by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology enables the patients to transmit self-measured data via smartphone on a daily basis. These data include blood pressure, pulse, number of steps per day, subjective well-being, adherence to medication and, optionally, the glucose level or body weight. The data are encoded and then transmitted to the clinic via a mobile phone app. The technology enables contactless data transfer, for example from the blood pressure monitor to the mobile phone without the patient needing to do anything. The doctor in charge can electronically access the patient’s data record via a web interface. The patients will receive automatically generated weekly feedback on their data with reference to the target values recommended by their doctor.

Further information
Sozialversicherung der gewerblichen Wirtschaft
Mag. Patricia Gassner, MPhil
Tel. Nr. 05 08 08/3452
E-Mail: patricia.gassner@svagw.at

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
Mag. (FH) Michael Mürling
Tel.Nr. 0664 2351747
E-Mail: michael.muerling@ait.ac.at