Sammy Thatipelli Receives Grant to Evaluate Feedback on Blood Pressure Monitoring Program
Medical student Sammy Thatipelli received a grant from the University of Minnesota Foundation to gather and evaluate patient feedback on a remote blood pressure monitoring program that her mentor Dr. Bethany Sabol is piloting.
The program Home Observation of Postpartum Elevated Blood Pressure (HOPE-BP) will be available to all patients delivering at University of Minnesota Medical Center - West Bank. Dr. Sabol has worked on HOPE-BP for the past three years with support from M Health Fairview Women & Children’s service line, the UMN Associate Dean for Strategy & Innovation, and our own Digital Technology Innovation (DTI) program.
Patients will receive twice daily alerts through the patient portal MyChart Care Companion to measure their blood pressure and receive immediate feedback about what their blood pressure values mean and recommended next steps. Their blood pressures will be monitored daily by Dr. Sabol and the HOPE-BP care team consisting of Maternal Fetal Medicine nurses and advanced practice providers.
The postpartum period is a high risk time for patients with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, which are the leading cause of readmission following delivery. The HOPE-BP program aims to provide enhanced surveillance during this period while allowing patients to remain at home with their new families. This will make postpartum blood pressure monitoring much easier and provide clinicians with more consistent data to identify when patients are at risk.
“The standard care right now is postpartum follow-up within 3-5 days for these patients. However, scheduling follow-up hospital visits is inconsistent,” says Thatipelli. “My project will gather data starting immediately upon discharge that will allow our team to identify elevated blood pressures and act on that information before patients develop severe hypertension and the associated risk of maternal morbidity.”
Thatipelli will use mixed methods to gather feedback from patients on the program and their experience using the technology. This valuable information will help the HOPE-BP team understand the program’s impact and make adjustments before it is implemented across the Fairview health system.
Thatipelli is interested in using technology to improve the care patients receive. During a graduate assistantship with CLHSS this past summer, she learned more about applying technology solutions to medicine. Thatipelli continues to engage with the DTI program and receives mentoring by Drs. Genevieve Melton-Meaux, Rubina Rizvi, and Debbie Pestka.
The University of Minnesota Foundation aims to encourage medical students to conduct research that aligns with their interests by offering grants. Thatipelli said that having her project recognized by University leadership was exciting and would help her incorporate patient perspectives into the HOPE-BP Program to create a more patient-centered product.
“My project will add formative patient input to a program that has the potential to reach and impact the care of many birthing people in our healthcare system,” she says.
