OSF HealthCare Offers At-Home Monitoring for Pediatric Respiratory Viruses

According to an Aug. 23 article, the digital health arm of Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare, OSF OnCall offers parents an at-home monitoring and support program for babies and toddlers 5 years of age and younger who have an infection from a respiratory virus. Those include: the flu, rhinovirus, croup, pneumonia, and others including RSV.

Enrolling in the program offers assistance from OSF OnCall care teams 24/7 and monitoring tools that will aid in proactive response to worsening respiratory virus symptoms, keeping infants and toddlers out of the hospital.

Mary Stapel, MD, lead physician for Community Care for OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center  was quoted in the article saying that “For the more common cold type symptoms, we can recommend the conservative treatments at home nasal saline with some suctioning, a cool mist humidifier you know, just kind of frequent, small feedings to optimize keeping that child hydrated.”

Further, “Clinical Digital Care Supervisor Rose Smith, RN, says OSF OnCall was able to implement its 24/7 digitally enabled, at-home support program for RSV so quickly two years ago because of its experience with similar monitoring to help patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart failure. Smith says parents and caregivers have loved it.”

An OSF OnCall app provides education and notifications to report relevant signs/symptoms over 10 days. Smith notes that upon enrollment, parents or guardians receive a care kit for at-home use from their provider following a visit or a digital community health worker can deliver one.

“The OSF OnCall respiratory illness RPM program is for anyone in Illinois or Michigan. Patients must have a positive test or diagnosis of a respiratory infection to qualify,” the article adds. “Referrals can be made by providers in a hospital emergency department, OSF OnCall Urgent Care, OSF PromptCare, medical offices, or following hospital discharge.”

Smith, according to the article, says parents who have a child in the program can request a video visit at any time. The OSF OnCall nurse will also recommend a video visit if needed.

Last year, the remote monitoring program for pediatric respiratory viruses enrolled a total of 1,074 babies and toddlers from September through April.