Translated from the original article published at radboudumc.nl
The ViSi Mobile is a wrist monitor that can measure the most important bodily functions of patients day and night (24/7). After almost 5 years of trial runs and scientific research, Radboudumc will now use this wrist monitor in 7 departments and 117 beds to improve patient safety. Research shows that thanks to the wrist monitor and the timely identification of patient deterioration, there are 32% fewer unplanned ICU admissions.
During hospitalization, patients may experience a decline in key bodily functions (blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, respiratory rate, and oxygen uptake). To identify this in time, a nurse assesses these most important bodily functions on a daily basis on the basis of the modified early warning score (MEWS). This score reflects the degree of instability of the patient at that moment. Since the introduction of the MEWS, the number of unplanned ICU admissions and hospital mortality has decreased. However, research has shown that the interval measurement of the MEWS may miss the interim decline of key bodily functions.
The American company Sotera has developed a new tool to identify faster that a patient is deteriorating: a wrist monitor, called ViSi Mobile. With this wrist monitor, you can monitor patients' breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, saturation, and skin temperature day and night.
The ViSi Mobile system with the wrist monitor.
32% fewer unplanned IC admissions
In 2017, surgeon and professor of surgery education Harry van Goor and internist Bas Bredie started a trial at the Radboudumc Surgery and Internal Medicine departments with wireless continuous (24/7) monitoring of the most important bodily functions in 60 patients. It was examined to what extent the number of unplanned IC admissions has decreased since the introduction of this ViSi Mobile.
A recently published study by Yassin Eddahchouri et al. (2022) shows that with the introduction of the ViSi Mobile from August 2017 to July 2019, there were 32% fewer unplanned ICU admissions compared to the years before this intervention. In addition, the number of calls to the medical emergency team (MET) within Radboudumc decreased. A total of 2,023 patients, without the ViSiMobile and 1,873 patients, with the ViSiMobile, were included in this study.
Commitment during COVID-19
With COVID-19, the rollout of the ViSi Mobile gained momentum. All isolated patients in a nursing ward could be monitored remotely with the ViSi Mobile. A decrease in the patient's oxygen level could be detected more quickly and adequate oxygen therapy could be initiated quickly. In addition, the patients indicated that they felt safer and it resulted in many positive experiences among medical staff.
Full product
After a successful trial period of almost 5 years, more than 10,000 monitored patients, and various studies, Radboudumc will use the ViSi Mobile as a full-fledged product to improve patient safety. On March 18, 7 departments (117 beds) officially went live with the latest version of the wrist monitor. These are the departments of Surgery, Internal Medicine, Gastrointestinal-Liver Diseases, Urology/Gynaecology, AOA (Acute Admission Department), Neurology, and Neurosurgery.
"This is my life!"
An admitted patient in the Surgery Department enthusiastically told nurse Robin Verweij what he thought of the pulse monitor. He wore his own smartwatch on his left wrist and the ViSi Mobile on his right wrist. Laughing, he made the comment, lifting his left arm first, then his right: "This is my time and this is... my life!"
