The Canadian Institutes of Health Research has announced recipients of its eHealth Innovation Partnership Program. Associate Professor of Nursing Elizabeth Peter, RN, PhD, is a co-principal investigator on the successful application led by Michael McGillion and PJ Devereaux of McMaster University. TecHnology Enabled remote monitoring and Self-MAnagemenT- VIsion for patient EmpoWerment following Cardiac and VasculaR surgery (THE SMArT VIEW, CoVeRed) is a strategic partnership of the McMaster School of Nursing, the Population Health Research Institute, Hamilton Health Sciences, the University of Toronto and Coventry University, UK and collaborates with major stakeholders from industry and the community; its goal is to modernize post-operative care for seniors undergoing cardiac and major vascular surgery. This significant award garnered $750,000 over four years from CIHR, with matching in-kind support of $11.6 million from industry.
The goal of the eHealth Innovation Partnership Program is to identify patient-oriented eHealth solutions that will improve health outcomes, patient experience, and lower the cost of care for seniors with complex care needs in their home. SMArT VIEW is targeted to seniors undergoing heart surgery.
Seniors who undergo cardiac and vascular surgery often develop chronic pain and other complications – even with regular in-hospital monitoring of blood pressure, breathing and heart rate. A better way of tracking how patients are doing is needed. SMArT VIEW is a new system that will try to do just that – by monitoring patients using wireless technology at hospital and at home for complications, their experience of pain, adverse events, sleep quality, and other health system related events, such as cost-effectiveness and utility, and hospital readmission. The program will link patients to the hospital so that they get help when they need it.
To ensure that SMArT VIEW makes a real difference to patients and the health care system, the program will include an evaluation component. Researchers will ask patients and nurses using the system what they thought about it – how easy it was to use and how helpful.
Dr. Peter will lead the qualitative component of this multi-method study by examining the patient, family and clinician experience from an ethical, legal, and social perspective. Drs. Robyn Stremler, Monica Parry, Bonnie Stevens and Judy Watt-Watson are also co-investigators from Bloomberg Nursing leading the examination of supportive recovery measures related to sleep, peer support, self-management and pain.
SMArT VIEW has the potential not only to change healthcare management for seniors who’ve undergone cardiac or cardiovascular surgery, it also has the potential to be rolled out to other populations receiving complex care at home.