Rotterdam hospital monitoring Covid-patients at home

The Maasstad Hospital in Rotterdam was able to send 45 Covid-19 patients home early over the past months and treat and monitor them remotely through a specially designed app. According to the hospital, so far this experience has been a great success. It freed up hospital beds for new patients, and recovering patients had a better time recovering at home, the hospital said on Monday.

The 'Covid-19 at home' app by Luscii Vitals was launched in July. Since then, 45 Maasstad Hospital patients used it successfully to report their symptoms, body temperature, and oxygen level in their blood, which they measure at home. Extra oxygen is also sent home with the patient, which they can administer themselves. Specialist nurses, supervised by pulmonologists, review the data and immediately contact the patient if they see any deterioration. 

"It works very well and the patients also like the home monitoring," lung specialist Gea Helfrich of Maasstad Hospital said. "This frees up beds for new corona patients and it is nice for patients to recover in their familiar environment. They receive the expert help they need from us 24/7. The hospital remains the primary practitioner until the end of the home monitoring, only at a distance."

Patients who are stable, require two liters or less of oxygen, and are digitally literate are eligible for home monitoring, Helfrich explained. The treating physician determines whether this will be a good fit for the patient.