Telemonitoring in Heart Failure Patient Management

Abstract

Heart failure is a highly prevalent clinical syndrome, associated with high costs to the national health system and with a negative impact on patients' quality of life. In order to reduce mortality, the rate of hospitalisations and improve quality of life, the empowerment of the patient for self-care from self-monitoring of signs and symptoms, taking medication, education about the disease, is a pillar of the treatment so that they can recognise signs of exacerbation of the disease in time and resort to health services early. Mobile health apps (mHealthh) have shown promise as a tool to engage and promote patient self-care, decreasing mortality and hospitalisations. However, to improve outcomes, more robust studies are needed on the development of the applications with regard to their contents, functions and usability, so as to overcome the obstacles to their use and ensure greater evidence of the benefits of their use.