Remote Monitoring for COVID-19 Patients

The COVID Care Companion Program was created to give patients better tools to self-quarantine successfully. It begins when nurses reach out to patients at home who have tested positive to enroll them in the program. Participants can either use their MyScripps app or receive daily phone calls, whichever is more convenient.

“We want to check their vitals on a daily basis,” says Mora Cannon, RN, a COVID Care Companion nurse. “We want to know their temperature and heart rate, whether they are weak or short of breath or coughing or vomiting. Are they better, worse or the same as the previous day?”

If a patient’s condition can no longer be managed at home, a nurse will first encourage them to go to the emergency room, then will alert the staff that the patient is coming to further streamline care. 

“It’s a proactive connection point,” Chu says. “Our nurses can really get in front of a lot of issues.”

San Diego residents Kat and Jason faced a more acute situation. They and their two small children all had COVID-19, forcing the adults to be patients and caregivers simultaneously. The family experienced the typical symptoms: fever, fatigue, aches, coughing, sneezing. Some days they thought they were recovering, but the next day they would be worse. The family’s COVID Care Companion nurse helped guide them through these ups and downs and secure needed appointments.

“It was great for us to have a place to call and ask questions,” Kat says. “We needed appointments, so we called the nurses and they said, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to expedite this.’ They called us back and said, ‘These are the times, this is your appointment.’”

One of the most difficult aspects of contracting COVID-19 is the quarantine. Many patients feel like they are in solitary confinement and, in some cases, rely on their COVID Care Companion nurse as their most important point of contact with the outside world. To these patients, getting those regular phone calls from Scripps nurses has been a lifeline.

“There was this tremendous sense of loneliness because we were quarantined in our home and just trying to survive this thing,” Jason says. “The one source of consistency and positivity was the Scripps team. It reminded us there are people who are firmly in our corner and are trying to help us get better. It just felt great during a very dark moment.”

The COVID Care Companion Program is reaffirming what many at Scripps had already known: Consistent remote contact between patients and providers improves care and keeps people healthier.

“One of the things we’ve learned from the COVID Care Companion program is the importance of patients having easy and accessible ways to contact nurses and other providers,” says Chu. “Often, they just need someone to touch base with them on a more frequent basis to make sure they’re staying focused on their condition.”

Scripps alternates between digital connections, such as messages through the MyScripps app, with phone calls and other approaches to maintain a consistent dialogue between patients and providers. Patients enter key health metrics into the app and regularly chat with their nurse. When patients have questions or need to set up an appointment, they have a specific person they can call — someone who knows their history and can help them navigate the system. These ongoing communications help spot health troubles early, when they are more easily remedied.

“We want to keep people at the lowest risk level possible,” Chu says, “and help them manage their disease so they can live their fullest possible lives. We want to ensure patients get the appropriate care at the right time. So, instead of waiting for their condition to flare up, we can modify their care at home and, hopefully, keep them out of the hospital.”