The acceptability to patients and professionals of remote blood pressure monitoring using mobile phones

Aim: To establish the acceptability of telemetric monitoring of blood pressure to patients and clinicians. Background: Telemetric monitoring of blood pressure (BP) may allow clinicians and patients, in partnership, to more quickly control high BP through medication and lifestyle alterations. However, it is not clear if patients and clinicians would find such a system acceptable. Methods: Questionnaire study followed by focus groups of patients with high BP, and clinicians involved in managing BP. Findings: We received responses from 25 (50%) practice nurses, 76 (50%) general practitioners and 126 (62%) patients. We ran three focus groups of patients and clinicians. Participants were supportive of the technology, willing to try it, thought it would encourage adherence to medication and lifestyle and felt it would diagnose problems sooner than current methods. However, both groups thought the technology would bemore useful for new patients or those whose BP was uncontrolled. They were concerned that individual high readings might provoke anxiety and thought patients would need reassurances about this. Clinicians were concerned about workload and the responsibility to act immediately when faced with a continuous stream of readings, regardless of how inconvenient this may be. Conclusion: Participants, in general, welcomed this technology and thought it would aid adherence to medication and lifestyle advice, but felt it was most suitable to those with newly diagnosed or uncontrolled hypertension. Patients will need to be educated and reassured about the nature of occasional high readings and the need to consider average BP.