The Lourdes smartphone pacemaker from Medtronic with BlueSync technology.
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center announced that it is one of the first hospitals in the Philadelphia/South Jersey region to offer pacemakers from Medtronic with BlueSync technology that can communicate directly with patients’ smartphones and tablets.
According to Lourdes, BlueSync-enabled devices, including pacemakers are compatible with the MyCareLink Heart Mobile app.
With a download to a patient-owned smartphone or tablet, the MyCareLink Heart Mobile app integrates cardiac remote monitoring into patients’ daily living and eliminates the need for a dedicated bedside monitor or other remote monitoring hardware.
The MyCareLink Heart Mobile app provides patients access to select pacemaker data including remote monitoring transmission history and battery longevity.
“Engaged patients are significantly more likely to participate in healthy behaviors,” said Dr. Darius Sholevar, an electrophysiologist with Lourdes Cardiology.
“The MyCareLink Heart mobile app and BlueSync-enabled pacemakers allow patients to become more involved in their own heart health and easily stay connected with their clinic with technology they use every day,” Sholevar said.
MyCareLink Heart mobile app can be downloaded by patients at no cost at www.MCLHeart.com. The mobile app includes: Transmission history, which provides patients with information about transmissions that have been sent to their doctors, as well as confirmation when transmissions are received by physicians; vitals tracking, allowing patients to record weight, blood pressure and heart rate in the app, and to track these measurements over time to help better understand health status (this information is only stored on their mobile device, it is not sent to the clinic); battery longevity, displays the estimated remaining battery life of patients’ Medtronic heart devices enabled with BlueSync technology; a symptom journal, which allows patients to catalog symptomatic events that can be reviewed with their physicians during in-person clinic visits (this information is only stored on their mobile device, it is not sent to the clinic); device information, which displays device implant date, heart device name, model number and serial number — as well as patients’ clinic information; education, which offers helpful information and common questions about living with a pacemaker; and physical activity, which provides information about patients’ activity levels.
The app uses data from patients’ heart devices to create daily, weekly and monthly views of physical activity.
BlueSync is the technology inside select Medtronic devices that enables secure and wireless communication to patients’ smartphones and tablets via Bluetooth Low Energy telemetry. Data collected by BlueSync-enabled devices is sent securely to the Medtronic CareLink network, providing timely alerts of clinically relevant patient events that can be reviewed by a physician at any time. Security controls built into BlueSync technology-enabled heart devices and MyCareLink Heart mobile app include encryption and access restrictions to protect the integrity of all data transmissions.
