Managing Chronic Illness
Bonnie Wakefield
Bonnie Wakefield, a research associate professor at the MU Sinclair School of Nursing, has found her niche. In the growing field of health care informatics, she is working to use telehealth technology to help people manage chronic illness.
Her research involves using videophones and telephone connections to help veterans who have been hospitalized for heart failure successfully recover at home. This also helps conserve resources for the home-health nurses who administer follow-up care.
The study has allowed Wakefield to combine her professional expertise in nursing with her interest in technology. she is also able to assist the patient population she works with as director of health services research and development at Harry S. Truman Veterans Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.
“The goal is to keep the patients healthy and keep them at home,” Wakefield says. “It’s best for everyone if we can spread out the times between hospitalizations.”
For instance, through the video system, nurses can monitor patients for fluid overload and intervene if needed. They can manage larger patients groups via this system, only traveling to those who need specific hands-on care.
In a second, related study, Wakefield is testing an even more efficient method of care management.
She is now studying an in-home messaging device that allows patients to enter their daily blood sugar levels and blood pressure readings.
“With this device, information goes both ways,” Wakefield says. “Patients enter the information, and nurses look at multiple patients’ data within a relatively short time frame. We can see who’s in trouble right away and track them, call for information or schedule appointments.”
She plans to test the device on about 200 patients and follow a 100-patient control group to compare certain data points, such as evidence of better blood pressure and sugar control, and number of clinic visits needed.
“The VA population really needs a convenient device,” she adds. “We’re working on new ways to manage the baby boomers health, which is a large group that will be developing age-related chronic illnesses.”
Wakefield believes the general move toward technology in all parts of our lives translates to a natural extension of technology for health care. “People assume that older patients would be negative about using technology, but my experience is just the opposite,” Wakefield notes.
By studying and promoting the use of technology to deliver health care in a more efficient and complete manner, Wakefield hopes her work encourages the appropriate adoption of new technologies.
“Some people love gadgets, but we need to look at the role of technology in terms of which patients really benefit, how much technology they really need, and how to best tailor our approach to so they experience a better quality of life,” she says.