Philips Healthcare to provide specialized home respiratory care in partnership with Nightingales

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In a move that signifies the growing importance of speciality home care, a medical technology major and a speciality home care company are partnering to provide speciality respiratory care to patients at home. Bangalore based speciality home care company Nightingales under Medwell Ventures has entered into a first of its kind partnership with global medical technology leader Philips Healthcare to provide specialised home respiratory care services to patients. These services will be made available in Metros & Semi Metros very shortly.

Respiratory disorders are growing at an alarming rate in India and more than 100mn Indians suffer from some level of respiratory diseases. It is also estimated that 5-15% of Indian population in the metros suffer from respiratory disorders.

Amongst the many respiratory disorders COPD is a major cause of morbidity and mortality across the globe, according to WHO more than 65mn people across the globe have moderate to severe COPD and it is one of the main causes of recurrent hospitalisations with a 25% readmission rate making it an expensive disease to treat. In India there are an estimated 30mn patients with COPD and its increase is being contributed to factors like under-diagnosis, poor continuity of treatment and inappropriate care at home. For patients with respiratory diseases there is a need for constant specialized care and monitoring at homebecomes crucial with Home ventilation and Home oxygen therapy. Often patients lack this specialized care at home, thereby aggravating the disease. If home-based professional medical care facility is provided to such patients then majority of critical complications can be averted.

'The escalating incidences of respiratory disorders and the need for continuous specialized care in many cases, makes home based respiratory- care services an indispensable aspect of disease management. The services offered by Nightingales and Philips willenormously help the patients and their families, significantly improving patient'streatment outcomesand reducing recurrent hospitalisationsin several cases,' says leading pulmonologist, Dr.K.S. Satish.

Effective home management of respiratory disorders starts with a customised care protocol and plan for the patient, carefully prepared by the treating doctor.The main components of the care plan include pulmonary medications, oxygen therapy, non-invasive ventilator support, pulmonary rehabilitation, breathing exercises, muscle enhancement/strengthening and secretion clearance techniques. Nightingales will provide all these services to its patients at home with the assistance of its proficient team of nurses and rehabilitation specialists.

Under the new partnership, Nightingales will take its speciality home services for respiratory distress patients to an advanced level by making respiratory gadgets like non-invasive ventilator (NIV) and oxygen concentrator from Philips, available to the patients at their homes. Moreover, respiratory therapists and speciality nurses in pulmonology will be trained by Philips as per world class protocols to work in sync and provide the most advanced and effective treatment support to the patient.

The patient will also be registered at Philips Call Centre where all the data of the patient will be stored. It will support patient education, promoting healthy behaviours and self-care, leading to improved clinical outcomes.The Call Centre will also assign a nurse and respiratory therapist to each patient for regular visits and monitoring. Any concern raised to the Call Centre by the patient shall be immediately resolved by the medical team. Regular home visits by the medical personnel and follow-ups from the treating doctors will also be ensured.

Infectious diseases experts also mention that variants of influenza and viral respiratory diseases have become acute which is increasing the prevalence of respiratory disorders in the community.

With these advanced and protocol driven home respiratory-care facilities of Nightingales, patients with complex respiratory disorders will be able to avoid frequent re-hospitalizations and improve their quality of life.Only in case of very acute episodes; the patient will require hospital admission.

Speaking about this unique tie-up where the best respiratory technologies from Philips will enhance Nightingales home respiratory care services, Mr Lalit Pai, CEO, Nightingales says, 'This association marks a giant stride forward in home-based respiratory healthcare services offered in India. This partnership reflects Nightingales focus of home based chronic disease management and providing patients a new avenue of care. Philips has a dedicated home care respiratory technology which will back the care protocols and together we will strive to provide a new level of respiratory care at home'.

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