Heart Failure Patient Engagement

using visualization of personal health information &

analytics of public health care information

Self-care of Heart Failure (HF) is challenging. Common barriers are physical and cognitive limitations, difficulties coping with treatment, lack of knowledge, and personal struggles. Following dietary, exercise, and adherence to medications regiment (e.g., ACE Inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, beta-blockers, digitalis – lanoxin, diuretics, diuretic potassium sparing, aldactone spironolactone, and potassium) are key success factors. With such information overload, self-care management of HF is typically poor, and readmission rates are high.

Self-care of HF requires patients’ decision-making process of maintenance, management, and confidence (self-efficacy expectancies) that patients are in control of health behaviors, symptoms monitoring, treatment adherence, and the response to symptoms when they occur.

In heart failure, self-care includes maintenance care, such as taking medicines regularly and on time, eating a low-salt diet, preventing acute illnesses by getting appropriate flu and pneumonia vaccinations, exercising regularly physical activities and maintaining heart-healthy lifestyle by limiting alcohol and tobacco use.

An important part of heart failure self-care is managing the disease by recognizing worsening symptoms and taking the appropriate action to address them. This requires monitoring daily weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar; observing changes in signs and symptoms of heart failure; and recording daily medication and daily activity 

The self-care confidence addresses the patient’s perceived ability to engage in each phase of self-care, such as understanding causes, disease diagnosis and condition, and complication; adhering to medication instruction and treatment plan; following-up appointments and tests (e.g., EKG, echocardiogram, cardiac catheterization, coronary angiogram, stress testing, and transesophageal echocardiogram); and recognizing signs and symptoms.

Educating and teaching heart failure patients to be engaged in self-care are key successful factor in treating their disease.

Our patient-oriented information visualization provides a stepped approach to patient education and counseling.

Health and Medical Goals

We understand the goals in self-care of heart failure, which is seeking effective self-care management that has the potential to provide the following benefits’ impact:

• Empower patients to self-care manage their condition
• Increase patients’ confidence (efficacy) and self-care maintenance of treatment adherence
• Enhance the performance of heart failure operations
• Improve patients’ quality of life and the service that they and their families receive
• Enable patients to easily access and manage their personal health information
• Monitor and effectively manage patients’ chronic conditions
• Prevent hospital readmissions and reduce the use of emergency rooms for non-emergency care

Our Approach to Meeting Your Health and Medical Goals

Our approach is to provide health care Consumers and Patients to easy access to their personal health information using visualization techniques that accurately and clearly display the health care consumers’ health specifics. This approach will improve the health care consumers’ understanding and management of their health by considering personal preference, health behavior, social influence, and visualization communication. 

Innovation Overview

Our proposed innovation is a BlueMeter engine that combines data from diverse information sources, such as electronic medical records, personal health records, mobile health devices, remote telemedical devices, and Health Indicators Warehouse to present the myBlueMeter. It provides easily understood visualization of patients’ medical data and health care consumers’ health data. myBlueMeter will extend the utility of the current  personal health portal data set by presenting visual information graphics and peer benchmarks to health care consumers and patients to encourage active engagement in self-health management.

Contact us @ http://vsis.co/vContact