Educating Patients About Virtual Care and Remote Patient Monitoring

Sonni Hall, Clinical Director at SynsorMed, discusses educating patients about virtual care and how it can impact their long-term health.

How do you approach educating patients about remote patient monitoring?

Educating patients is a significant part of a nurse’s job. We educate patients to understand their condition and to prepare them for self-management. 

Studies show that when patients are involved in their care, they’re more likely to engage in the interventions that may increase their chances of positive incomes. So it’s crucial to educate patients on how remote monitoring can aid their overall health.

How do you educate patients with virtual care? Is it easier or harder than in-person?

Remotely educating patients can be a challenge depending on the patient. Healthcare workers have to consider a variety of factors when educating their patients. Literacy, cultural barriers, and how the patient learns can impact how you educate them.

However, remotely educating a patient can be easier when you’re in a clinical setting. In-person healthcare providers sometimes have insufficient staffing or heavy workloads, so nurses may not have time to discuss a patient’s condition thoroughly. 

With virtual patient care, nurses don’t have the same time constraints. It’s more accessible for patients to talk with someone about their condition instead of being given pamphlets or handouts.

Virtual patient care also allows nurses to build relationships with their patients, making it easier to discover how they learn and educate them accordingly. 

How does educating patients about virtual care help with patient compliance?

Many people in the virtual care industry think it’s enough to give patients monitoring devices, but education is key to patient compliance.

At SynsorMed, our healthcare workers teach patients why using monitoring devices can help with their care. We teach them that seeing trends in their readings can help doctors treat their condition. 

Patients often respond to this education and are more proactive in using monitoring devices. Education empowers patients to take their readings, take their medications, and be more engaged with managing their condition.

Can you give us an example of how educating patients about virtual care helps with patient compliance?

Sometimes patients ask why it’s important to have daily readings of their vitals.

Questions like this are an excellent opportunity to educate patients on the importance of monitoring their condition every day. Healthcare workers can explain that taking daily blood pressure readings can help doctors spot trends over time. It’s a more accurate depiction of what is going on with your health versus getting a reading every three months when you visit the doctor.

Patients educated on why remote monitoring is essential to their care are more likely to do their readings and stay compliant with their medications.

How has patient education during COVID-19 helped vaccine distribution?

Patients are often coming to us asking questions about the COVID-19 vaccine. They want to know if they can take the vaccine with their condition, and our healthcare workers are educating them about the vaccine. 

We give patients information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and what we know as far as evidence-based practices. We do our best to answer questions based on data and safety trials, so patients can make an informed decision about getting the COVID-19 vaccine.Final thoughts

Education definitely helps with patient compliance. Once you empower patients to take their readings, it helps them understand how their medication and treatments are working.

Listen to the full podcast episode with Sonni Hall, Clinical Director at SynsorMed, here: The Virtual Care Show: Episode 2The Virtual Care Show is your weekly take on all things related to the new care models in healthcare, remote patient monitoring, chronic care management, and hospital at home. Like and subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever else you listen to podcasts.