{"id":345719,"date":"2026-03-24T18:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/345719\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:15:09","slug":"continuous-wearable-monitoring-improves-postoperative-oxygen-levels-and-patient-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/345719\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuous wearable monitoring improves postoperative oxygen levels and patient safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patients continuously\u00a0monitored\u00a0after surgery\u00a0experienced significantly less time with dangerously low oxygen levels compared to those\u00a0monitored\u00a0using routine spot checks, a new study from\u00a0Wake Forest University School of Medicine\u00a0found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The study, which took place at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center,\u00a0was published\u00a0Tuesday\u00a0in\u00a0JAMA\u00a0Network Open.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The research\u00a0represents\u00a0the first\u00a0large, randomized\u00a0crossover\u00a0trial and largest dataset to date evaluating continuous wearable monitoring technologies on hospital surgical floors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Even modest amounts of hypoxemia may meaningfully affect recovery and could possibly be an early indicator of a downstream clinical event. This trial shows that real-time visibility\u00a0into\u00a0patient physiology helps teams respond sooner and more effectively. While our work was not powered for patient centric outcomes, those point estimates are encouraging and should motivate the scientific community to conceive larger pragmatic trials with hard outcomes.”\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n <\/p>\n

Ashish K.\u00a0Khanna, M.D., professor of anesthesiology and vice chair of research at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and lead author of the study<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Researchers compared standard intermittent vital sign checks, typically every four hours, with\u00a0a novel continuous wearable monitoring system that recorded\u00a0a multitude of vital signs.\u00a0Those\u00a0included\u00a0oxygen saturation<\/a>, heart\u00a0rate\u00a0and blood pressure every 15 seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The trial was conducted across two postoperative surgical units, which alternated monitoring methods every four weeks over a full year.\u00a0Nearly\u00a03,700\u00a0patients,\u00a0including\u00a0800\u00a0high-risk\u00a0patients,\u00a0were included in the primary analysis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Key findings\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t <\/p>\n

Reduced\u00a0hypoxemia:\u00a0Continuously\u00a0monitored\u00a0patients spent approximately 30 fewer minutes with oxygen saturation below\u00a090%, a statistically significant 14%\u00a0risk\u00a0reduction\u00a0for\u00a0dangerous desaturation events.\u00a0In addition, composite outcomes including\u00a0combinations of\u00a0desaturation, heart\u00a0rate\u00a0or blood pressure changes were significantly improved by continuous monitoring.\u00a0Lower oxygen levels after surgery can delay recovery and increase the patient’s risk of complications.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t <\/p>\n


\n\t <\/p>\n

Trends toward overall safety improvement:\u00a0Although not statistically significant individually, continuously\u00a0monitored\u00a0patients experienced fewer ICU transfers, fewer rapid response\u00a0activations\u00a0and lower in-hospital mortality.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n\t <\/p>\n

According to Khanna,\u00a0Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist\u00a0Medical Center\u00a0is the only large U.S. hospital to\u00a0have\u00a0successfully deployed\u00a0this continuous monitoring technology\u00a0and\u00a0to have done\u00a0this\u00a0type of\u00a0trial\u00a0at scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Traditional\u00a0vital sign\u00a0checks every\u00a0four to six\u00a0hours\u00a0on the general inpatient nursing units\u00a0often\u00a0fail to\u00a0capture early deterioration.\u00a0Wearable continuous monitoring provides clinicians with\u00a0real-time\u00a0alerts, enabling earlier interventions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Researchers noted\u00a0earlier\u00a0bedside\u00a0interventions,\u00a0including airway repositioning,\u00a0stimulation\u00a0and supplemental oxygen,\u00a0likely contributed\u00a0to improved outcomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With hundreds of millions of surgeries performed worldwide each year, the postoperative period\u00a0remains\u00a0one of the most vulnerable times for patients. Continuous wearable monitoring offers a scalable,\u00a0feasible\u00a0pathway to improving outcomes and reducing preventable complications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This study provides an important push for the worldwide surgical\u00a0and perioperative\u00a0community,” Khanna said. “Continuous\u00a0wearable\u00a0monitoring is no longer experimental.\u00a0It’s\u00a0achievable,\u00a0impactful\u00a0and ready for broader adoption.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

This study was supported by NIH grant UL1TR001420.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Source:<\/p>\n

Wake Forest University School of Medicine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Patients continuously\u00a0monitored\u00a0after surgery\u00a0experienced significantly less time with dangerously low oxygen levels compared to those\u00a0monitored\u00a0using routine spot checks, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4250,1378,134,2862,2241,78290,3193,111,139,69,8323,1518,6290],"class_list":["post-345719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-blood","tag-blood-pressure","tag-health","tag-heart","tag-hospital","tag-hypoxemia","tag-medicine","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oxygen","tag-research","tag-surgery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}