Perceptions of transmission of body weight and telemonitoring in patients with heart failure?

Chronic heart failure (HF) is associated with a high burden of morbidity and mortality and with reduced quality of life. New techniques such as telemonitoring (TM) have recently been introduced in the care of patients with HF in order to improve outcomes. TM is defined as sending data from the patients’ home to healthcare professionals. Most studies have focussed on endpoints such as morbidity and mortality, and relatively little attention has been paid to patients’ perceptions of TM. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore and describe patients’ perceptions of transmission of body weight (BW) and TM, regularly accomplished from patients’ homes to an HF clinic. An explorative design with a phenomenographic approach was used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a maximum variation sampling of 20 participants. The findings are described in five metaphoric categories that were assigned and used as a description: the habitual patient, the concerned patient, the technical patient, the secure patient, and the self-caring patient. The conclusions were that the transmission of BW made the patients active in their own care and increased self-care activities. In clinical care, concerns for deterioration in HF as well as the reliability of the TM system should be considered. Future research may focus on healthcare professionals and their perceptions of transmission of BW and TM in the care of patients with HF.