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A recent study by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago found that using a consumer wearable device to track a child’s heart rate and physical activity after surgery could help doctors decide whether to Home recovery goes as expected or whether an emergency room (ED) visit is required to resolve possible complications. Their results, published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, show that this lower cost and more widely available method of monitoring has the potential to advance earlier interventions or potentially prevent unnecessary emergency room visits if clinicians judge the physiological data to be reassuring.
“Our study shows strong preliminary evidence that objective data from the wearables coupled with a parenting report on the child’s recovery could improve triage and guide unplanned follow-up care after surgery,” said senior author Fizan Abdullah, MD, Ph.D . , Director of Pediatric Surgery at Lurie Children’s and Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “A higher than expected heart rate reported to us by the device tells clinicians the child may be in pain or bleeding, while a lower than normal step count suggests the child may be bedridden and have a complication at home Has. In our focus group study, we found that this data helps doctors make decisions when a parent calls with a concern. “
Previous research by Dr. Abdullah and colleagues used the consumer wearable data to quantify the expected course of recovery after certain surgeries. They followed 200 patients after surgery and found consistent patterns across procedures. This information was used in the current study as a baseline against which to judge whether the situation is worrying or reassuring.
In the current study, clinicians were asked to rate three real-world scenarios that included a summary of parent calls with or without wearable data. When presented with reassuring portable data, their likelihood of recommending an emergency room visit was significantly reduced. Likewise, based on the portable data, their likelihood of recommending an immediate ED visit increased significantly. Even when the patient’s portable data didn’t change their decision, clinicians reported that they increased their confidence in decision-making when answering parents’ phone calls.
“In an ongoing study, we are developing machine learning algorithms that will alert clinicians to wearable data,” said Dr. Abdullah, Chairman of the Orvar Swenson Founders’ Board in Pediatric Surgery. “This would allow us to intervene even earlier and possibly improve the child’s outcome.”
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More information:
Samuel C. Linton et al., Impact of Wearable Device Data for Consumers on Clinical Staff Decision-Making During Telephone Conversations After Discharge After Pediatric Surgery, Journal of Pediatric Surgery (2021). DOI: 10.1016 / j.jpedsurg.2021.09.040 Provided by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Quote: More Than Just Counting Steps: A Shared Wearable Fitness Tracker Helps Doctors Assess Recovery At Home After Children’s Surgery (2021, November 18), Retrieved November 18, 2021 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/ 2021-11-common-wearable- tracker-clinician-at-home.html
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