How Do RPM Services Help to Reduce the Workload on Clinical Staff?

These are unprecedented times for clinical staff, with their workload bulging by the day and healthcare workers backed into a corner where they have to push themselves beyond their limits. And that isn’t just a result of the pandemic. Acute shortages of medical professionals have also chipped into the problem, ensuring clinical staff have to take on more responsibilities just to keep up with their day-to-day. The result is long hours, poor concentration at work, and a drop in care standards as it now becomes a matter of quantity over quality. However, clinical facilities can find relief with a remote patient monitoring service, which has the ability to cushion staff from surges in their workflow. Here’s how RPM technology and services can shoulder the burden.

1. RPM reduces the data management burden 

Every clinical care facility mostly deals with data in an unstructured format, and this includes a range of files that can make management a nightmare for staff including: 

  • Call transcripts 
  • Physical notes
  • Text files
  • Photos

Presently, research by Springer finds that up to 95% of all healthcare data is affected, and with unstructured data comes a myriad of concerns. Some of those include hidden patient insight, complexity in data management, compliance difficulties, and inflated storage costs, among others. 

Our remote patient monitoring platforms can flip this situation on its head, not only unifying a range of data into a facility’s existing workflows seamlessly but also automating the reporting and collection of data. Moreover, we alleviate the headache of duplicative documentation thanks to our technology’s ability to flawlessly blend into any EMR. 

2. Facilities can plug staff shortages with RPM 

It is the reality on the ground today that the healthcare industry faces a dire shortage of clinical staff and the situation is bound to get much worse in the coming years. WHO predicts that, within the next decade or so, we’re on course to see the shortage hit the 13 million mark. 

As the shortage continues to devastate, clinical staff have to burn the candle at both ends, working overtime to the detriment of their own physical and mental health. Remote patient monitoring solutions are the way forward to ease this strain, cushioning facilities through the provision of outsourcing services where flooded workers can extend their teams. 

For example, here at Aura Health, we provide a virtual team of experienced clinicians to care facilities, ensuring more hands on deck during surges. Our complete care support covers a range of chronic illnesses, including but not limited to:

  • Hypertension 
  • Diabetes management 
  • Pulmonary conditions
  • Cardiology-related illnesses

3.  RPM can help with appointment scheduling & other routine tasks

Does your hospital have chronic care cases where physicians have to travel to patients for routine assessments? You need one of the most trusted remote patient monitoring solution providers to reduce your clinical’s staff travel efforts and expenses. 

Virtual visits can cut down on the need for physicians to travel to patients, saving staff time which can be channeled into taking care of other responsibilities. But that’s not the only routine task RPM can tick off their list. Others include:

  • Booking appointments or scheduling consultations
  • Onboarding of patients. Our intuitive technology, UNICA, takes out the paperwork from patient onboarding processes to make it fast and convenient
  • Daily patient vital tracking, with smart alerts ensuring clinical staff never miss a thing when normal vitals veer out of range

With an ACP Journal report finding that administrative tasks drain clinicians of 5 working hours a week and up to 14% of revenue annually, remote patient monitoring is key to alleviating the workload burden and improving profitability. 

4. Improved patient recovery rates to lower readmissions

For every 10 Medicare patient discharges, a report by BMC Geriatrics finds that at least 2 of them will be readmitted within a month. Hospital readmissions inflate the care burden on already strained facilities that have to go out of their way to add even more patients to their workflow.

Some of the causes of readmission include:  

  • Inaccurate medical histories 
  • Patient noncompliance
  • Poor follow-up care
  • Unanticipated post-care needs

With digital healthcare solutions such as RPM, many of these challenges can be easily remedied. For instance, when it comes to patient compliance, our remote patient monitoring technology enables care facilities to send out routine reminders to family and patients, which improves treatment adherence. Moreover, with an open line of communication, physicians can detect post-care needs at home that may have slipped under the radar.

Is your facility struggling to keep up? 

Aura Health is here to help. We aid struggling clinical facilities to not just provide care but to offer quality care that results in the right patient outcomes thanks to real-time data. With evidence-backed analytics, we enable faster turnaround times, take over iterative chores, and lower readmissions/admissions by 40% to ensure overburdened clinical staff breathe easier. What’s more, with UNICA, your personalized care manager, we enhance collaboration and prevent the risk of clinic staff burnout. Hop on a call with us today to learn more.