Brook Remote Patient Monitoring selected for clinical trial by Kidney Research Institute heralds expanded use of RPM software

Brook Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) has been selected to enhance data collection for the BLOSSOM clinical trial now under way for the Kidney Research Institute, a collaboration between Northwest Kidney Centers and the University of Washington.

Brook Health Director Heather King said: "It’s exciting to see Brook's RPM software being utilized in this way. This is the first time that RPM software is being used in a clinical research study such as the BLOSSOM study.”

The BLOSSOM study aims to understand how blood sugars change for people on dialysis. Trial participants wear a Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) device to measure patterns in blood sugar levels. 

While the CGM captures the numbers, Brook RPM complements this data by capturing the symptoms of blood sugar changes, including increased hunger or thirst, shakiness, and nervousness or anxiety.

Brook RPM sends participants a daily push notification to fill in a questionnaire on the Brook app, where they record their symptoms and the time of day they occurred, or record “no symptoms.” Participants can log symptoms of blood sugar changes at any time on the Brook app. They can also log additional data in the Brook app that may be of interest to the study team, such as food, medication, exercise, or sleep. 

The study team can see those responses on Brook’s Provider Portal. This helps researchers ascertain if people are aware they are having symptoms when blood sugar changes occur.

Ian de Boer, MD, is the Principal Investigator of the BLOSSOM study. He said “With BLOSSOM, we hope to understand how often people treated with dialysis have low and high blood sugars, and why. This is a critical first step to improve how we monitor and control blood sugars, and how our patients feel and function.”  

Brook RPM is more than a data capturing system; it’s a complete cycle of connected care, offering real-time interaction between researchers and participants.

King said: “The study team can reach out to participants via the messaging function on the Brook app and ask questions regarding symptoms as soon as the participant logs the symptom.

“Utilizing Brook's provider portal and app technology, symptoms and events can be logged and tracked instantly, and cross-referenced with the CGM data using Brook's organized reporting system and dashboards. The study team can see participants' logged data as it enters the system, which may also include food, exercise, sleep, medication, and home blood sugar checks, all of which can be captured by the Brook RPM app.” 

Ian de Boer, MD said: “Brook provides us with real-time data about patient symptoms that help us understand more about how our patients feel and function at home. This adds useful context to what we see at study visits.”

According to King, this novel use of RPM paves the way for future clinical trial applications: “Brook offers RPM technology that is versatile and can be tailored to a health provider clinic's – or in this case, a study's – needs. Capturing data in real-time, coupled with the ability to communicate with participants and the ability to run detailed reports on each of the participants, is truly changing the way clinical trials can be run, and the amount and depth of data that can be accessed during a study."

For more information or an interview, please contact Heather King, Brook Health Director: heather@brook.health

For details of the Blossom study, visit: https://kri.washington.edu/blossom-study

Brook has been supporting customers with chronic conditions for five years, with a focus on patient engagement and adherence via programs such as Brook+ and Brook RPM. Learn more at: https://www.brook.health/