17 Dec Final paper for OMRON Healthcare Pilot Evaluation study now published
A unique pilot project demonstrated remote monitoring in Sub-Saharan Africa may be an effective approach to helping patients better manage their high blood pressure.
The OMRON Healthcare project piloted a care model in Nigeria where remote monitoring was implemented and tested for patients with high blood pressure (hypertension). Access to quality hypertension care is limited in Sub-Saharan Africa and oftentimes, patients connect directly with trusted pharmacy staff to access medications without the involvement of a cardiologist.
Through a mobile application, mHealth, 336 patients were provided with appropriate blood pressure medication by their pharmacist and monitored remotely by a cardiologist who was able to provide recommendations on their care plan and treatment.
Results of the feasibility study were published this week through BMC Health Services Research.
The paper, Pharmacy-based hypertension care employing mHealth in Lagos, Nigeria – a mixed methods feasibility study, highlighted most of the enrolled patients were satisfied with the approach, and their mean blood pressure significantly reduced.
“Our approach was truly multi-disciplinary in that a number of AIGHD team members with different specializations including health sciences, epidemiology and anthropology were involved, along with the Centre for Epidemiology and Health Development in Nigeria, our sister organization PharmAccess, and of course OMRON, who initiated this innovative project,” said asst. prof. Anja van’t Hoog, AIGHD lead for the project.
“The collaborative approach allowed us to explore the feasibility of this type of program at a deeper level and we’re proud to have worked with all partners to deliver this project.”
“We are encouraged by the results of this study. Partnering on innovative healthcare delivery models to support under-served populations in emerging markets is a core pillar of OMRON’s ‘Going for Zero’ commitment to work towards eliminating heart attacks and strokes globally,” said Paul Stevens, Senior Global Manager Business Incubation at OMRON Healthcare.
The publication marks the official end of the project, which started in 2015. Earlier this year, the project team published a mixed method paper in the Journal of Hypertension, titled: Patients’ and healthcare providers’ perceptions and practices regarding Hypertension, pharmacy-based care, and mHealth in Lagos, Nigeria. The paper described patients’ and health care providers’ perceptions and practices regarding hypertension, pharmacy-based care and mHealth.
Last month the team also published a quantitative paper in the journal Global Health Action titled Low uptake of hypertension care after community hypertension screening events in Lagos, Nigeria which evaluated the project three recruitment strategies for enrolling patients in the study.
AIGHD was approached by OMRON Healthcare Europe to collaborate on developing and evaluating the innovative pharmacy-based hypertension care model.
For more information on the intiative, visit the project page.