Why Real-Time Patient Data Helps Your Practice Provide Smarter Clinical Care

The words “big data” have been thrown around a lot in recent years, with organizations across a variety of sectors recognizing the value that data holds. For many businesses, analyzing incoming data can help them streamline their processes and better serve customers. For healthcare organizations, however, collecting data can provide potentially life-saving information that can improve patient outcomes. In this article, we’ll explore how real-time patient data can help your practice provide smarter clinical care. 

What is real-time patient data?

There’s only so much time that a provider can spend with a patient in-person or during a telemedicine consultation. Real-time patient data can help fill that gap. This data supplies the healthcare provider with real-time visibility into the patient’s care plan adherence, condition, symptoms, and more. Real-time data can include vital signs, like heart rate and blood pressure, as well as confirmation that patients are complying with their medication regimen and plan of care.

How can practices gather real-time patient data?‍

Portable, affordable technology has made gathering real-time patient data easier than ever before. In many cases, this process takes place seamlessly with the help of either a smart, FDA -approved medical device—also known as a remote patient monitoring (RPM) device—or a patient management system embedded within software or a mobile application. Patients either wear the devices, which automatically send data back to the provider, use a device that syncs remotely for data transfer, or use a smartphone app to answer clinical questions about their current health status. 

How do patient management systems and smart devices work?‍

Many people are familiar with wearable technology which already gathers data about their daily lives, including smartwatches and activity trackers that record the number of steps taken in a day. While these devices are designed for consumers, similar devices can track and send health-related data to providers. For example, a digitally enabled blood pressure cuff can track a patient’s blood pressure level and alert a provider if the reading strays from a normal range. In other cases, patients can download a smartphone app which prompts them to enter data daily. 

Why is real-time patient data good for doctors?‍

According to HealthcareITNews, “patient-reported outcomes-measures can help patients and providers monitor the results of an encounter or treatment.” In doing so, providers receive access to data they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access outside of an appointment. That visibility can be crucial in helping physicians recognize patterns or behaviors that need further attention or treatment.

The Journal of the American Health Information Management Association agrees, saying that aggregated data received from real-time patient monitoring “could reveal subtle trends about a patient’s health early on, giving clinicians valuable lead time in cases of deleterious conditions.”‍

Why is real-time patient data good for patients?‍

Real-time patient data can help individuals gain further insights into their health on a 24/7 basis. Rather than waiting for an appointment with their provider, patients can track their own data daily. Gamification can also make using smartphone apps and wearable technology more rewarding, making tracking their health an enjoyable activity during their day. 

PainScript allows you to collect real-time patient data for your practice‍

Our application supports both a digital evaluation and management platform, as well as a remote monitoring approach, built on real-time patient data that can help improve care plan and medication adherence. 

Through an intuitive and user-friendly mobile app, patients answer clinically validated questions at regular intervals. Our HIPAA-compliant app also delivers medication reminders and medical-grade exercise videos and empowers patients to communicate with their provider more easily. Your practice has access to a dashboard that records all patient-provided data and uses machine learning to escalate potential risks. 

As an added benefit, PainScript can also collect and curate data from remote patient monitoring devices like smart scales, blood pressure cuffs, and more. 

Have questions about how PainScript works? Request a demo. 

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