Page 104 - Comprehensive treatment of patients with glucocorticoid-dependent severe asthma
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Chapter 6
personalized asthma action plans [14], and by identifying patients who are at risk of symptom worsening [15].
Although many variants of ICT applications have been developed for management of individual patients in the respiratory field [2], there are only sparse data on their effectiveness and, therefore, the role of these applications in asthma (self)-management is still unclear. This paper provides an overview of recent developments of management strategies for the individual patient with asthma that incorporate ICT applications.
Telemanagement approach
In the medical scientific literature there is a wide variability in terms to describe the usage of ICT applications in the management of chronic diseases. Some of the commonly used terms are e-health, telemedicine, telehealth, telemonitoring and telemanagement.
Whereas, e-health refers to the complete field of health services which are delivered or enhanced by ICT [16;17], the definition of telemedicine and telehealth refers to the delivery of healthcare services to remote areas by using ICT for information transmission from the patient to a healthcare professional, and back to the patient in order to save consultations and avoid journeys [18;19]. Another related term, telemanagement, is more focused on the ongoing management of the individual patient by employing ICT applications [20]. In this review telemanagement will be defined as an interactive and proactive management approach, consisting of an ongoing partnership of patients and professionals supported by ICT and focused on clinical outcomes and patient goals in the individual.
The cornerstone of telemanagement is tailoring treatment to the individual patient needs. Therefore, a telemanagement approach consists of the following components: electronic case management (individualized treatment plan), medication management (including reminders), case-specific education and instruction, and integration with the electronic medical record of the health care provider [20].
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