24 February 2020
In today’s healthcare systems, technology has an ever-increasing presence. How can you take advantage of that technology’s potential to improve your patients’ experience? From electronic health records (EHRs) to continuous patient monitoring and smart medical devices, technology touches almost every point of patient care.
When connected to care teams, these technologies create a system that can help reduce errors, enhance collaboration and accelerate response time.1–3 Connected care is the result of weaving together numerous interoperable systems to make important patient information readily available to care teams.
The overall goal of connected care is to improve patient outcomes. Connected systems are able to collect and transmit the most up-to-date patient information. Care teams can then immediately access accurate patient information to quickly make informed decisions.
With almost 95% of hospitals using EHRs, many have taken the first step to introduce connected systems into their workflow.4 Hospitals can build on this foundation, integrate more products and technologies, and ultimately reach end-to-end connected care.
For example, select continuous monitoring technologies can wirelessly detect a patient’s heart and respiratory rate in real time and alerts the appropriate healthcare providers if those rates go outside of predefined thresholds.5 As a result, patient issues may be identified sooner, which may allow acceleration of treatment and recovery times.
Because 70–80% of patients show vital sign changes at least six hours before a critical event,6,7 continuous monitoring can help identify patient deterioration before crisis.5 Continuous monitoring has been shown to facilitate appropriate treatment which may lead to quicker recovery.5
EHRs and continuous monitoring technology are only the beginning. Many hospitals are already utilizing connected products and technologies, like smart bed surfaces and communication solutions, that work together to collect and transmit patient information. When these devices are part of a connected care environment, patient care teams may be significantly improved.1–3,5
Connected Care Case Study |
In a recent study of over 7,500 patients, contact-free, continuous patient monitoring helped caregivers improve patient outcomes and hospital efficiency.5 Better treatmentIn the medical-surgical unit, contact-free, continuous monitoring led to5:
Quicker recoveryAfter continuous monitoring there was5:
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| Steps for Connected Care | Benefits of Connected Care |
|---|---|
Electronic health record (EHR) system to serve as a centralized location for all patient information |
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Continuous monitoring to capture information during treatment and recovery |
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Data management and analysis systems |
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Communication solutions |
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References
1. Meccariello M, Perkins D, Quigley LG, Rocak A, Qui J. Vital time savings: Evaluating the use of an automated vital signs documentation system on a medical/surgical unit. J Healthc Inf Manag. 2010;24(4):46-51.
2. CareAware VitalsLink : Prepared by Cerner Corporation. 2013.
3. Fieler VK, Jaglowski T, Richards K. Eliminating errors in vital signs documentation. Comput Informatics Nurs. 2013;31(9):422-427.
4. Parasrampuria S, Henry J. Hospitals' use of electronic health records data, 2015–2017. Onc Data Brief, no 46. 2019. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; Washington, DC. Available at: https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/page/2019-04/AHAEHRUseDataBrief.pdf. Accessed January 23, 2020.
5. Brown H, Terrence J, Vasquez P, Bates DW, Zimlichman E. Continuous monitoring in an inpatient medical-surgical unit: A controlled clinical trial. Am J Med. 2014;127(3):226-232.
6. Rose MA, Hanna LA, Nur SA, Johnson CM. Utilization of electronic modified early warning score to engage rapid response team early in clinical deterioration. J Nurses Prof Dev. 2015;31(3):E1-E7.
7. Subbe CP, Kruger M, Rutherfor P, Gemmel L. Validation of a modified early warning score in medical admissions. QJM. 2001;94(10):521-526.
