In this episode, we talk to Dr Karin Smit, who is a GP trainee and PhD student at the Department of General Practice at Utrecht University in The Netherlands.

Title of paper: Home monitoring by pulse oximetry of primary care patients with COVID-19 - a pilot randomised controlled trial

Available at: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2022.0224

During the course of the pandemic, home or remote monitoring of COVID-19 patients by pulse oximetry took off. However, studies on its use are scarce. Our pilot randomised controlled trial showed that home monitoring of moderate-severe COVID-19 patients with a validated pulse oximeter is feasible; adherence was high, patients reported a high feeling of safety, while the number of primary care consultations remained similar to usual care. We believe these pragmatic findings form an important building block for safe implementation of pulse oximetry as a home monitoring tool in primary care.