A mobile-phone tele-medicine system that promotes selfmanagement of blood pressure among hypertensive patients in kirinyaga sub county

Abstract

The current practice adopted by hypertensive patients in managing hypertension is making frequent visits to a health center as recommended by medical specialists. However, very few patients adhere to this practice as it is time consuming and tiresome especially if they have to travel for long distances to have their BP checked. This practice is also not practical for critically-ill patients. Consequently, most patients neglect BP check-ups and therefore focus on medication alone. This puts the patients’ at risk as uncontrolled BP can lead to fatal complications. The overall objective of this research was to design, develop and pilot-test a mobile telemedicine system that helps patients’ to self-manage their BP condition from the comfort of their homes. Participatory action research design was used in this study. Testing for performance, usability and utilityof the tele-medicine system was conducted.