Failure to Detect Ward Hypoxaemia and Hypotension: Contributions of Insufficient Assessment Frequency and Patient Arousal During Nursing Assessments
Saab, Wu, Rivas, Chiu, Lozovoskiy, Ma, Yang, Turan, & Sessler British Journal of Anaesthia
Hypotensive and desaturation episodes are mostly missed because vital sign assessments on surgical wards are sparse. Continuous vital sign monitoring will detect more disturbances, potentially giving clinicians time to intervene before critical events occur.
Continuous Surveillance Monitoring Saves Lives
"...30-day postoperative mortality is a thousand times greater than preventable intraoperative mortality with an overall incidence ranging from 1.3% to 1.9%. In fact, if 30-day postoperative mortality were a disease, it would be the third leading cause of death in the USA. Two-thirds of 30 day postoperative mortality occurs during the initial hospitalization, under direct medical care in our highest-level facilities.”