Mobile Phone-Based Remote Diabetic Patient Monitoring System - Assignment Example

? A critical review of a journal article on, ‘mobile phone–based remote patient monitoring system for management of hypertension in diabetic patients.’ health sciences and medicine ajh–September 2007–vol. 20, no. 9 Name Institution There are several studies being conducted across the world on blood pressure health care across the world and all this is being represented in various forms starting from thesis, reports, and journals to even books. It was quite tiresome choosing this article since I had to put several factors in consideration. First, I was interested in unique study that employed the current technology in medicine; the study had to be relevant and precise to my field of study and area specialization, and is why I had to land on this article: ‘mobile phone–based remote patient monitoring system for management of hypertension in diabetic patients.’ health sciences and medicine ajh–September 2007–vol. 20, no. 9’’ Introduction As a result of deprived concern on the blood-pressure especially among patients suffering from Hypertension, Alexander et al conducted a study using Mobile Phone–Based Remote Patient Monitoring System for Management of Hypertension in Diabetic Patients. This research aimed at coming up with a system which dynamically engages hypertension patients in the process of home care. The study reveals that the ‘Mobile Phone–Based Remote Patient Monitoring System for Management of Hypertension in Diabetic Patients’ promotes blood pressure control in the society especially in the midst of patients with unrestrained hypertension since the test reveals a strong relative and long term positive response after several clinical trials (Kaplan & Ronald 2009). These results were in accord with the forecast since substantial technological advancement had been achieved to shed of limitations that have hindered physicians to have direct contact with the patients (Rasid & Woodward, 2008). However these results did not put several dimensions such as age, environment and status into considerations but to some level this study is tentative. The outcomes of the research reveal an insight in the importance of incorporating technology in health and medicine (Bosworth 2007). Nevertheless, a number of limitations should be carefully put inconsideration in deducing the study findings. APPRAISAL OF THE RESEARCH METHODS Though the results and findings of the entire research might sound convincing, there some elements of doubts left in thoughts, especially how the entire study was conducted. In Phase one of this study it is claimed to have employed two sets of investigative groups which dealt with patients and family specialists in an attempt to collect data. The data was to relate to diabetes and hypertension as well as personal perception of the patients towards Mobile Phone–Based Remote Patient Monitoring System and it general design (Kaplan & Ronald 2009). It is obvious that use of an interview could not have been employed alone in collecting information that was necessary in the design of a home blood Tele-management system since the numbers of individuals involved were too many and not all them were comfortable to be interviewed. There are several methods of data collection which are either qualitative or quantitative methods which could have been used in gathering information from this people and not by use of interview alone. Suggestively, the use of structured questionnaire could not have been avoided in this scenario (Kaplan & Ronald 2009). In the past, a number of studies have been methodically exclusively employed various research methods in order to gather the exact information of study. The use of several research methods widens the scope of study and builds credibility of the data gathered putting in mind the fact that data collected directly influence results and findings of the study. It is quite amusing that during this phase, there were two sets of groups to be studied and the only data collection method that was employed in both cases was use of interview (Bosworth 2007). This attempts us to think the findings are not reliable especially by basing on the limitations of using interview as a source of data collection. Was the interview private or public? It is still pending and again the time provided for the interview, it was only 2hrs for per group, was it enough? (Bosworth 2007) It is important to note that each session of interview was recorded, this was crucial for future recording and more so, it promotes credibility of the gathered information. Though note taking of the response would also been used to gather this information in order to provide a hard copy rather than relying on the soft copy alone, this will be used as an alternative point of reference especially when the soft copy material is tampered with. The use of QRS NVivo 2.15 data-management software was also positive approach since the software is more accurate and this reduced misunderstanding among the researchers. The software also improved consistency of the collected data and this assisted the researchers to come up defined design principles of the study (Kaplan & Ronald 2009). Generally, they would have varied design principles of system if varied methods of data collection would have been employed but if through interview alone the physicians were able to exhaust data from the patients and family members, then the design principles were exemplary. Indeed, the design principle is the skeleton of the study and hence tentative measures had to be employed to ensure that the main goal of the study is achieved. APPRAISAL OF THE PILOT STUDY OF THE STUDY In this research it was important to conduct a pilot study of the ‘‘Mobile Phone–Based Remote Patient Monitoring System for Management of Hypertension in Diabetic Patients’’ this meant to boost accuracy of the research findings and at the same time identify key limitations to this research that would prevent achievement of the main objectives the study. Basing on the design principles formulated in phase one and the variables used in the design process of the blood pressure Tele-management system, it is a point to note that the pilot study had to be conducted on 33 type 2 diabetic patients with uncontrolled ambulatory (Bosworth 2007).The set of the whole pilot exercise is convincing, having chosen to use staff from four diabetes Education centers in Toronto was a milestone in the pilot study. In deed there was a need to employ experience at this point, the chosen group of patients was also reliable to this study and it is more likely that the four education centers in Toronto would have used as recruiting points. The research findings are based on the pilot study hence putting other dimension aside and thus basing on the design of the pilot study of this project there is no doubt the response of the project would be systematic and precise with either a slight or exact outcome to the predicted results (Kaplan & Ronald 2009). However, as the set up stands, they should be some deviations in response to the findings predicted due to limitations linked to the technology employed; especially the type of mobile phone and the network provider being used during the pilot study (Rasid & Woodward, 2008). Also it was not advisable to use mobile phones dedicated to study for other communication purposes by the patients as it would influence the results since we are not sure if this mobile phones were featured enough to withstand multi-tasking, though as it stands this did not affect much the findings as there were no big variations in readings from the patients picked for the purpose of the pilot study (Bosworth 2007).During the pilot study threshold values for both ‘high’ and ‘‘low’’ blood pressure alerts were established and were consisted over the study period, this readings were automated to lie at 180/110 mm Hg or a 2-week average BP _160/100 mm Hg in case of high blood pressure alerts and 90/50 mm Hg or a 2-week average BP _110/60 mm Hg for the low alerts, this was proved after 12 successive readings taken in three days just to reveal how the pilot project was well organized and set up by the researchers CRITIQUE OF THE RESULTS A thorough evaluation of these results clearly reveals that they are reliable, though phase 1 of the research methods appeared to have lapses in data collection according to me, it appears they were consisted and complete to the Mobile Phone–Based Remote Patient Monitoring System for Management of Hypertension in Diabetic Patients model under investigation (Kaplan & Ronald 2009). Especially having chosen patients who had confidence in the type of technology being employed this boosted their relevance to the topic of study which ultimately influenced quality of the results/ findings of study (Bosworth 2007) However, in phase 1 of these results, the result does not reveal a clear difference in the two groups of study. Seemingly, it appears the two groups provided the same results which is somehow arguable, it might be true on one side since the two groups used only interview as method of data collections and they might have had similar information from the responded but on the other hand, these two groups had different expertise and thus both could not collect the same information especially in this case since the interview was unstructured (Rasid & Woodward, 2008). In addition, consistency in these findings doubts, due the fact that some equipment had to be replaced since the patients were not familiar with them notably the computer and the internet and in place fixed a paper copy and yet the system had been designed to operate on alerts. The connection between the print out and the alerts on the mobiles phones is likely to interfere with the actual performance of the system and hence the results since the print out component was not a component of the system technical architecture (Kaplan & Ronald 2009). The patients would have first been taught on the use of computers and internet in order to maintain the actual technical structure of the model under study since in the first place they had confidence in this technology. Obviously, the manner in which the pilot study was conducted would have provided perfect findings in the second phase of study; this is evident with the results in this section since they are systematic, precise and accurate to the model of study. Having a lift from other studies conducted by in the same field, the findings are more less the same and this clear indication how acceptable the model of study is applicable in handling the poor lever of concern in patients living with hypertension which is the problem of study (Kaplan & Ronald 2009). Despite the fact that the design principles of the entire study are formulated in phase 1 of the study, there is no connection between results in phase 1 and phase 2 of the study, it seems the researchers were biased in their findings and discussion as phase 2 has been dealt with exhaustively in discussion and presentation in the entire article. Generally these findings are valid since they explicitly address the public health problem and this aided by the fact that the researcher conducted primary studies of high methodological quality and I have no doubt they can be applied in the public health sector as point of reference In conclusion, it has to be agreed that the current research is conclusive in terms of technological involvement and model performance, though this does not rule out the chance of other studies to be undertaken since it has its own limitation (Rasid & Woodward 2008). I would suggest for better actions to be developed and modified samples to be employed in order to promote learners understanding in connection to the relationship between the mobile phone technology involved clearly and the health problem. In spite of deficiencies in the research method the study is tentative. For example, the study has tried to examine an emerging problem; the research has as well established insights to account for technology advancement in developing medical standards in the global world. The research has also demonstrated how the entire system is operational and applicable to the public health sector by coming up with a well designed technical architecture model that is encompassing modern technology principles of which have been tested in different fields and proved to be functional and harmless to mankind. References Bosworth HB, Olsen MK, Dudley T, Orr M, Neary A, Harrelson M, Adams M, Svetkey LP, Dolor RJ, Oddone EZ (2007): The Take Control of Your Blood Pressure (TCYB) Study: study design and methodology. Contemp Clin Trials Kaplan M , Ronald G (2009). Kaplan's Clinical Hypertension Clinical Hypertension. Philadelphia. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Rasid A, Woodward B (2008): Bluetooth telemedicine processor for multichannel biomedical signal transmission via mobile cellular networks 2nd(ed). IEEE Tran INF Technol Biomed Read More