YEREVAN, Armenia — The Turpanjian College of Health Sciences (CHS) at the American University of Armenia (AUA) has recently published an article titled “Managing Patients With COVID-19 in Armenia Using a Remote Monitoring System: Descriptive Study” in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, a peer-reviewed, open-access multidisciplinary journal that focuses on the intersection of public health and technology, public health informatics, mass media campaigns, surveillance, participatory epidemiology, and innovation in public health practice and research.
The first author of the paper is Lusine Musheghyan, MSW, MPH (MPH ‘14), research associate and research lecturer at the CHS Avedisian Onanian Center for Health Services Research and Development (CHSR). Lusine Aslanyan (MPH ‘18), Zhanna Sargsyan (MPH ‘18), and Dr. Varduhi Petrosyan are the CHS co-authors. The study is the result of the collaborative efforts of the CHSR with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia, Operation Armenia at the University of California – Los Angeles, the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California, and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
The COVID@home program offered a model for managing COVID-19 patients remotely, alleviating strain on healthcare resources. Patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were enrolled in the program during their hospital stay. The objective of the program was to provide oxygen concentrators along with home health visits and manage the patients using a remote monitoring system. The program was especially important given the exhausted inpatient capacity of the healthcare system to meet the population’s medical needs during the COVID-19 pandemic waves further coupled with the precarious state of the healthcare system as a result of the devastating consequences of the 2020 Artsakh war.
The paper discusses the findings of a descriptive study on the implementation and outcomes of the COVID@home program, that successfully managed 221 patients, with 94% discontinuing oxygen therapy during a median length of stay of 26 days. Despite operational and data quality issues, the program demonstrated feasibility and safety, providing valuable insights for similar initiatives in resource-constrained settings.
Existing literature reveals limited implementation of remote monitoring programs globally to manage COVID-19 patients at home with supplemental oxygen. Most studies, predominantly in high-income countries, have demonstrated low readmission rates and mortality below 1%, emphasizing the safety and effectiveness of such programs.
The findings underscore the potential for home-based care in low and middle-income countries and highlight the importance of collaborative efforts in implementing innovative healthcare solutions. Policymakers can consider the program’s success in informing the development of policies and practices aimed at addressing healthcare challenges during public health crises, emphasizing the need for adaptable solutions in resource-limited environments.
The AUA Turpanjian College of Health Sciences works actively to improve population health and health services in Armenia and the region through interdisciplinary education and development of health professionals to be leaders in public health, nursing, health services research and evaluation, and health care delivery and management.