Implementation of remote patient monitoring to improve medication adherence and efficacy in patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A quality improvement project

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are long-term respiratory diseases that can adversely affect an individual's quality of life and inflict financial strain on the patient, family, and healthcare system (Kocks et al., 2018). Adherence to prescribed inhaler medication is an integral component of effective disease management. Remote patient monitoring may serve as an effective means to proactively measure adherence with inhaled medications to improve respiratory health outcomes and decrease avoidable healthcare utilization (George & Bender, 2019). An inobtrusive device attaches to the metered dose inhaler to passively monitor the use and electronically transmit the information to a digital health platform for clinician evaluation. A quality improvement project was conducted with a group of individuals discharged from the hospital with a primary diagnosis of asthma and COPD. The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of remote patient monitoring on disease self-management, medication adherence, and health care utilization. Subjective and objective data was collected using the Asthma Control Test (ACT), COPD Assessment Test (CAT), and Peak Expiratory Flow rates respectively. Experiental feedback was gathered from patients and clinicians through surveys. Results revealed significant improvements in all three areas using a combination of subjective and objective measurement criteria with a high rate of patient and clinician satisfaction.