Hospitals are using new strategies to monitor patients at all hours, and are looking for dangerous signs of decomposition in patients.
According to The Wall Street Journal, hospitals are adapting two major approaches; a monitor under a patient's mattress which alerts nursing staff of changes in breathing and heart rate, and a method which rates a patient's risk of decomposition based on lab results, vital signs and data gathered from EMRs.
Here are five key notes, according to the report:
1. EarlySense monitors under patients' mattresses which monitor breathing and heart rate were linked to shorter hospital stays and a lower rate of "code blue" events, according to a study co-authored by David Westfall Bates, MD, chief quality officer and chief of general internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
2. The cost of EarlySense monitors range from $80,000 to $200,000 depending on facility size.
3. The second monitoring method is called The Rothman Index, developed by a family after their mother, following a heart procedure, died after signs of deterioration were not noticed soon enough.
4. The index calculates a score from one to 100 with regular updates, a lower score means the patient needs to be monitored or helped immediately.
5. The Rothman Index is currently used in about 70 healthcare facilities, and costs around $150,000 for a 300-bed facility.
