SINGAPORE – The National University Hospital (NUH) aims to broaden its use of wearable technology for vital signs monitoring, with up to 10 per cent of inpatient vital signs monitoring expected to be supported by smartwatches over the coming year.
Data from the smartwatches will be fed into the hospital’s electronic medical records system, allowing automatic documentation – a move expected to cut the time required for each check from two minutes to about 40 seconds per patient.
The move is expected to improve the recovery experience for ward patients while easing the workload of nurses, NUH said, adding that this is in line with the hospital’s efforts to use technology to enhance patient safety and optimise care delivery.
Immediately following a procedure, patients’ vital signs – including blood pressure, pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation – are monitored as frequently as every hour to assess their condition, said Lim Tian Zhi, an associate consultant at NUH’s surgery department.
“These vital signs help us assess the patient to see whether they are recovering on the normal track or showing early signs of deterioration,” he said.
Such regular monitoring – which requires nurses to wake sleeping patients – can disrupt their recovery, Lim noted, adding that it is also time-consuming.
Using smartwatches allows patients’ vital signs to be continuously monitored and sent to devices tracked by nurses, so their condition can be observed without disrupting their rest, he said.
“It 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.”
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