Telemedical Support in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure: Experience from Different Projects in Germany

Table 2

Quality requirements for telemedical support programmes for patients with chronic heart failure.

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(i)  Monitoring according to the NYHA stage

(ii)  Ensuring treatment according to guidelines

(iii)  Creating a modular system for individual telemedical monitoring

(iv)  Standardizing telemedical monitoring (selection of vital parameters, transmission intervals, automatic data transfer)

(v)   Integrating the recorded data in an electronic patient record

(vi)  Networking between partners (general practitioner, cardiologist in   private practice, hospital, rehabilitation facility)

(vii)  Certification of the telemedical service centre according to defined standards

 (viii)  Establishing standardised operating procedures (SOPs) in telemedical service centres

(ix)   Establishing an emergency management plan

(x)   Contacting the patient directly by phone for reviewing symptoms, medication adherence, consultation

(xi)   Enabling the patient to be self-reliant

(xii)   Accompanying patient education with structured training programmes

(xiii)   Accompanying medical and health-economic assessment

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