Clinical Evaluation of a Real-Time Wearable System for Monitoring In-Hospital Ambulatory Patients With COVID-19:...

Area of Science:

• Medical Technology
• Clinical Nursing
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Wearable monitoring systems are increasingly studied for hospital patient safety.
• Evidence of their impact on patient outcomes like mortality and length of stay is limited.
• Few studies examine how these systems affect clinical practice, specifically manual vital sign measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

• Describe vital sign patterns in COVID-19 patients outside critical care.
• Explore the impact of wearable monitoring system data display on manual vital sign measurement frequency.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of 144 COVID-19 patients using a wearable monitoring system.
• Continuous monitoring of heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation.
• Compared time between manual vital sign measurements during monitored vs. unmonitored periods.

Main Results:

• Patients spent 32.7% of monitored time at or above the escalation threshold.
• Time between manual vital sign measurements increased by a median of 39 minutes (unadjusted) and 14.6 minutes (adjusted).
• Increases in time between measurements were larger during stable observation periods.

Conclusions:

• COVID-19 patients monitored had elevated deterioration risk.
• Wearable monitoring systems led to increased intervals between manual vital sign measurements, suggesting altered nursing task prioritization.
• No evidence indicated that reduced observation frequency adversely affected patient safety.