Professor Sally Inglis recognised for research impact

Professor Sally Inglis has been awarded the prestigious UTS Medal for Research Impact for her longstanding research to support the use of digital health for people with chronic cardiovascular disease.

Professor Inglis, Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney, and recent past-Chair of the CSANZ Cardiovascular Nursing Council says she was honoured to receive the award and pleased to shine a light on the impact digital health is having on improving the lives of people living with chronic heart conditions.

“This award recognises a whole body of work and how this research has given clinicians the confidence to deliver alternative health services, like home-based telemonitoring, that not only improves quality of life but also reduce hospitalisations and public health costs,” she said.

Educating patients can positively impact the health system

Professor Inglis commenced her research in the early 2000s, when she started looking at large-scale reviews of home-based telemonitoring.

“The preliminary research found that that there was only so much drugs could do to support people with cardiovascular failure,” she said.

“What had the most impact on health system costs and quality of life was educating patients to monitor their symptoms at home so they could more confidently recognise deterioration and alert their healthcare provider when they had a problem.”

Professor Inglis says that while face-to-face consultations, like home visits from cardiovascular nurses, will always hold value, this comes with its own limitations, including time, accessibility and cost.

“There are only so many people a metropolitan nurse can visit every day, not to mention our regional community members, so this research really came about in response to that challenge,” she said.

“We wanted to look at whether there was a role for doing some of these services remotely via a structured telehealth service.

“This started with patients being set up with devices in their homes, like heart monitors and a set of digital scales with blue tooth.

“Since the early 2000s, this research has been updated every 3 to 5 years or so and has evolved as technology has evolved over time.”

From scepticism to an 'ideal alternative'

But while the technology was proving to be a suitable alternative to home visits and reducing hospitalisations, public health costs and improving quality of life, Professor Inglis says the research was still getting some pushback from clinicians.

“As a profession, nurses are very caring and committed people, so encouraging the use of telehealth monitoring over face-to-face contact was a challenging shift for many of the profession,” she said.

“However, the research and practice examples were showing us that where it’s not possible to monitor someone face to face, this was an ideal alternative model of care and not a second-best option.”

Professor Inglis’s work is cited in a number of global health guidelines, including in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the United States and Canada and is adopted by many health care providers across the world.

When the COVID-19 global pandemic hit, this research gave nurses and clinicians across the globe the confidence to deliver remote healthcare services and know they were giving patients the right level of service and care

“Despite the challenges and trying to get people to see the value in home-based telemonitoring for people with chronic heart disease, Covid was a launch pad for the uptake of the technology and our body of work helped health services make an evidence-based shift to provide digital services.”

Heart-failure patients now have improved access to care

Professor Inglis led an international team of cardiovascular researchers on the program, working in collaboration with Professor Robyn Clark of Flinders University and Professor John Cleland from The University of Glasgow. Both co-authors see first-hand how this research has improved access to care for heart failure patients in remote areas of South Australia and Scotland.

Heart Foundation CEO David Lloyd said that for decades, the Heart Foundation has supported Australian researchers who are at the cutting-edge of global cardiovascular research.

“The work of Australia’s world-class heart researchers, including Professor Inglis, is leading to major advances in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease,” Mr Lloyd said.

“I congratulate Professor Inglis for her award, and also express the Heart Foundation's sincere appreciation for those Australians who give generously and make this support for cardiovascular research possible.”

Transforming the digital health space

Professor Inglis is currently co-leading the newly established Digital Health Collaborative at UTS as part of INSIGHT – the Institute of Innovative Solutions for Health and Well-being. She says the Institute will be a convening space for research and transformation in the digital health space.

“We are bringing together experts in digital health and technology from across the university and industry to work on evolving our solutions to complex health problems in our communities,” she said.

“Our focus is on equipping the healthcare workforce to be trained and adaptable to work within hybrid healthcare environments, for example, equipping the nursing workforce to confidently use technology and educate patients on using the technology, working seamlessly between face-to-face clinical settings and digital healthcare.”

Professor Inglis has recently led a call to action for adaptation of cardiovascular nursing care in response to climate change and climate emergencies. This call to action highlights the vital role of digital health to maintain continuity of care and access to specialist health services for those most vulnerable.

“In climate change events, apart from First Nations peoples, the most vulnerable are predominantly the frail, disabled, elderly and those with literacy and socioeconomic disadvantage,” she said.

“Strategies to optimise nursing preparation, immediate response and adaptation to climate emergencies are crucial to ensure those at greatest risk, including First Nations peoples, are protected from potentially avoidable harm.

“There is great potential for digital health to maintain community connections with healthcare day-to-day and during emergencies, but this requires robust critical technology infrastructure, widespread telecommunications coverage, digital literacy of the healthcare team and community and affordable access to technology”.