Patients’ views on telemedicine in home positive airway pressure therapy: Preliminary Findings from the ERS-CRC IMPORTANCE Patient Survey

The use of home mechanical ventilation (HMV) and positive airway pressure (PAP) therapies has been increasing. Telemedicine (TM) emerges as a potential way of improving its efficiency and the quality of care provided, but patients’ access and perceptions of TM are unknown. The European Respiratory Society launched the Clinical Research Collaboration “IMPORTANCE” (Implications of Positive Airway Pressure and Home Mechanical Ventilation: TowArds optimal patient CarE) to explore patients’ preferences. A web-based cross-sectional survey was distributed through patients on long-term HMV/PAP. Patients’ characteristics, use and preferences of TM were collected. 4724 patients (60% male, 88% aged 41-80) from 59 countries participated, most with obstructive sleep apnoea (60%) and using an APAP/CPAP device (75%). Most patients (64%) never used TM. Those who had, were mostly (very) satisfied with TM services (53.4%), including teleconsultations (62%) and telemonitoring (47.7%), and very comfortable with the healthcare team accessing ventilator’s data (56.5%). Only 7.7% found TM too difficult to use. 40% would prefer a mix of in-person and remote consultations. More details in Table 1. Preliminary findings show that TM is still poorly accessed but very well accepted by patients. A broader adoption of TM might be key to improve patients’ follow-up and more integrated care. <fig><object-id>erjor;12/suppl_17/193/F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><object-id>F1</object-id><graphic></graphic></fig>