Noteworthy
Harshmeet Rakhra
by ava Baccari
A clinical research analyst with the University Health Network at Toronto General Hospital, Harshmeet Rakhra (BA ’15) has collaborated with Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre to help conduct research on monitoring and detecting early deterioration of people with COVID-19.
“The research goal is to use real-time remote home-based patient monitoring to detect which patients with COVID-19 are at risk of deterioration that may require hospitalization, while simultaneously providing reassurance to worried patients as they continue to self-isolate.”
The anticipated real-world outcome? Get more clinicians on their phones to provide virtual care to patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Rakhra’s research aims to help health-care professionals to develop a better understanding of the progression of COVID-19, and to reassure patients who show no concerning signs and prevent them from going to the emergency department.
She is currently working on a clinical trial in Ontario, COVIDFree@Home, which uses a mobile app to enable patients diagnosed with COVID-19 but not in need of medical attention to record their symptoms and stay in touch with their physicians from the comfort of their home. “This service has successfully followed hundreds of patients from diagnosis to symptom resolution,” she says. ■
