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<\/p>\nSINGAPORE \u2013 The National University Hospital (NUH) aims to broaden its use of wearable technology for vital signs monitoring, with as much as 10 per cent of inpatient vital signs monitoring expected to be supported by smartwatches over the coming year.<\/p>\n
Data from the smartwatches will be fed into the hospital\u2019s electronic medical records system, allowing automatic documentation \u2013 a move that is expected to cut the time required for each check from two minutes to about 40 seconds per patient.<\/p>\n
The move is expected to improve the recovery experience of warded patients while easing the workload of nurses, NUH said, noting that this is in line with the hospital\u2019s efforts to use technology to enhance patient safety and optimise care delivery.<\/p>\n
Immediately following a procedure, patients\u2019 vital signs \u2013 including blood pressure, pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation \u2013 are monitored as frequently as once every hour to assess their condition, said Lim Tian Zhi, an associate consultant in NUH\u2019s surgery department.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese vital signs help us assess the patient to see whether they are recovering on the normal track or showing early signs of deterioration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Such regular monitoring \u2013 which requires nurses to wake sleeping patients \u2013 can be disruptive to their recovery, Lim noted, adding that it is also time-consuming for nurses.<\/p>\n
Using smartwatches would allow patients\u2019 vital signs to be monitored continuously and sent to devices tracked by nurses, allowing their condition to be observed without disrupting their rest, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also frees nurses from routine, repeated vital signs monitoring, allowing them to have more time for physical face-to-face care for complex nursing needs,\u201d said Lim.<\/p>\n
NUH conducted a month-long trial in June, during which 30 patients wore smartwatches with vital signs monitoring capabilities that have been approved by the Health Sciences Authority.<\/p>\n
These devices \u2013 which incorporate miniature airbags similar to those in conventional blood pressure monitors \u2013 continuously monitored the patients\u2019 blood pressure, pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation.<\/p>\n
During the trial, nurses continued carrying out routine vital signs checks, recording the smartwatch readings at hourly or four-hourly intervals.<\/p>\n
When the devices detected abnormal readings, nurses verified the measurements using standard bedside equipment.<\/p>\n
The trial found that the smartwatches detected 18 abnormal vital sign changes and were able to identify these changes up to two hours earlier than routine manual observations.<\/p>\n
The Straits Times understands that the device used was a Huawei smartwatch, which is recognised as a medical device by regulators in Europe and China.<\/p>\n
NUH nurse manager Lim Pooi See noted that the use of wearables could also help reduce the risk of cross-infection between patients from the use of shared monitoring devices.<\/p>\n
The hospital aims to roll out the devices for surgical patients across its general ward, with the goal of eventually expanding their use to other patient groups, said Lim.<\/p>\n
Among the patients who took part in the trial was Ho Mei Guat, who was warded at NUH following an operation to remove a tumour from her colon in June.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ho Mei Guat took part in the month-long trial conducted by NUH in June, during which 30 patients wore smartwatches with vital signs monitoring capabilities that have been approved by the Health Sciences Authority.<\/p>\n
ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO<\/p>\n
The 50-year-old, who works for a software company, said the experience was much more restful compared with a previous hospital stay a decade ago, when she fractured her ankle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t being woken up every hour by the nurses,\u201d she said, adding that using a smartwatch was also less intimidating than being hooked up to multiple monitoring devices.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe encouraging results have given us confidence to explore wider implementation across suitable patient groups,\u201d said Asim Shabbir, head of NUH\u2019s department of surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we expand the programme, patient safety will remain our top priority. We will continue to evaluate the clinical context and suitability of the technology in different care settings, (to identify) where it can deliver the greatest benefits,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 The National University Hospital (NUH) aims to broaden its use of wearable technology for vital signs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[203,61,60,80],"class_list":["post-549200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-gadgets","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}