By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: A new project to monitor patients with ‘advanced’ heart failure while they are at home, is set to be launched in 2016 by the Heart Failure Programme at the Heart Hospital of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).
The project ‘Remote Monitoring,’ is a home telemonitoring approach that will allow the healthcare team to monitor a patient’s vital signs and general condition while the patient is at home, according to Dr Amr Mohamed Hamed Badr, Consultant Cardiologist and Director of the Heart Failure Programme at Heart Hospital, HMC. The Heart Failure Programme provides a unique service to patients with ‘advanced’ heart failure. It has a multi-disciplinary team consisting of cardiologists specialising in heart failure, clinical pharmacist and health educator nurses. The main role of this team is to make a customised, treatment plan for each patient. The team also educates patients and their family about the nature of their disease, and lifestyle changes to cope with heart failure.
It also provides a short stay unit for patients who need to be given intravenous injections for a few hours only.
“Our programme is still fairly new but is rapidly being established as a successful programme delivering real benefit to our patients. In 2014, we had more than 1,200 visits to our clinic by patients with heart failure and this number is expected to increase or even double by the end of 2015,” Dr Badr told The Peninsula.
“A key benefit is that patients are more aware of the importance of seeing specialised care for cardiovascular diseases and the reputation of our clinic is spreading – hence more patients are able to benefit from our expertise,” he added.
Heart failure is caused by the heart failing to pump enough blood around the body at the right pressure. It usually occurs when the heart muscles become too weak or stiff. Heart failure is a life threatening disease if not treated. It also affects other organs, like kidney and liver, thus leading to multiple-organ failure. However, the survival rate after a diagnosis of heart failure has improved universally in the past 30 years, according to Dr Badr.
The increase in unhealthy lifestyles counteracts this.
“The most common symptoms of heart failure are breathlessness, fatigue and ankle swelling,” he said.
Conditions that can lead to heart failure include reduced blood supply to the heart, disease of valves of the heart, abnormal heart rhythm due to birth defect, and long-term uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes and renal failure.
Heart failure can affect any age group, but the conditions are more common in older patients.
The Peninsula
