A physiotherapist who uses technology to help monitor patients who receive non-invasive ventilation (NIV) at home has received an award for being a digital pioneer.
Digital pioneer Stephanie Mansell
Stephanie Mansell, a consultant physio at the Royal Free London NHS Trust, was recognised for her ‘forward-thinking’ use of modem technology at the 2017 NHS Digital Pioneer Awards.
She triumphed in the sustainability through digital category of the awards, which were presented at a ceremony held in London on 22 February.
Ms Mansell has helped apply modem technology as standard care for all of her trust’s patients who receive NIV at home.
She told Frontline: ‘These patients need the help of ventilators at night time, due to various conditions such as respiratory conditions like COPD, or obesity or neuromuscular diseases such as motor neurone disease.
They tend to be quite frail so it can be difficult for them to get to hospital appointments.
‘But every single one of my patients now has a modem on the back of their ventilator, which transmits data to me at the hospital every day.’
The web-based software provides Ms Mansell with information that allows her to know how much a patient is using their ventilator, how well the machine is working and even if the patient’s mask is fitting properly.
‘There is an inbuilt flagging system in the software that alerts me if there are changes in pre-set parameters, so I know if a patient is not using the machine as much as they should or if the mask is leaking – which means that I can be proactive about addressing those problems.’
Since taking responsibility for the service in 2014 Ms Mansell has ensured that near 200 patients can benefit from the trust’s use of NIV modem technology.
Author: Robert Millett
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