JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Untreated clinical deterioration in pediatric patients with chronic conditions can lead to urgent hospital readmissions, impacting the health of children, imposing a significant burden on healthcare systems, and delaying the care of others. Pediatric readmission rates range from 3.4% to 18.7% and up to 40% of them may be preventable. However, multiple studies suggest that they are rarely predictable with the data available at discharge. Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) may be a viable approach to detecting the early stages of clinical deterioration that ultimately lead to urgent readmission. A variety of wearable monitors have been shown to yield real-time or almost real-time data that enable the timely identification of deteriorating disease management and interventions to remediate it. We argue that for pediatric patients with chronic disease, care models that leverage RPM have the most potential to prevent complications that may otherwise escalate into serious health concerns and reduce the likelihood of urgent hospital readmission.