Home Care ‘Buddy’

Home-care patients with heart disease and the Visiting Nurse Service staff who care for them have a new “buddy.”

The McKesson Health Buddy Appliance is a small, portable machine that collects vital signs, symptoms, and other information and connects up to 40 patients with VNS nurses through a secure Web site.

This new form of telemedicine is already proving its worth: Since the program began in January, a Health Buddy detected a patient’s uncontrolled hypertension which, in turn, prompted a quick change in medication by the physician. It also alerted the home-care team to a patient’s significant cardiopulmonary deterioration, allowing the doctor to act quickly and avoid the need for hospitalization.

“We’ve received nothing but positive feedback from the patients,” says Margaret Cappello, senior R.N. on the VNS cardiac team. “These are some of the best, most motivated patients we have. They’re eager to learn and adapt to what they need to do.”