NHS Lanarkshire is testing a digital platform which can alert staff to patients who are getting sicker, as part of wider plans for the Scottish healthcare provider’s new digital hospital.
As well as letting staff know when patients are becoming more unwell or deteriorating, the organisation says the technology has led to a ‘major boost in patient care’ and a rise in complete patient observations, with a leap from 31 per cent to 100 per cent.
Called Patientrack, the digital patient observations platform works in conjunction with Hillrom’s Welch Allyn vital signs monitors, with the technology replacing a paper-based system.
Piloted at University Hospital Monklands (UHM), Lanarkshire says that tech trial was ‘spearheaded by the Monklands Replacement Project (MRP)‘ as part of its ‘exciting ambition’ to make the new UHM ‘Scotland’s first digital hospital’ when it opens – which is expected to be around 2028.
The platform can provide hospital-wide visibility of all patients and their NEWS (National Early Warning Score), which calculates an ‘overall score from vital signs that are key to identifying, escalating and prioritising patient deterioration’. It’s hoped this will specifically support out-of-hours staff when workforce numbers may be reduced, and as well as critical care outreach teams.
Donna McHenry, the MRP redesign lead who led the pilot study, explained: “Patient observations should be conducted every four hours for the majority of patients, but achieving the desired frequency is challenging.
“Compliance with vital signs monitoring and recording has historically been inconsistent. With busy, noisy wards and healthcare professionals working to the limit in terms of capacity, tasks such as data recording can sometimes be pushed down the priority list.
“So the pilot study was carried out in two medical wards and two surgical wards at UHM to see whether a standardised electronic recording system could improve compliance and help deliver safer care. It allows healthcare staff at the bedside to record patients’ vital signs on iPads instead of using paper charts.
“The system records key factors including pulse, respiratory rate, blood pressure, temperature, level of consciousness and oxygen saturation as well as the frequency of observations and whether the frequency is correct in the context of the ‘early warning’ score system and clinical observation policy that we use.”
David Watson, a senior advanced practitioner at UHM, added: “Pre-pilot recording of vital signs was 31 per cent, but this rose to 100 per cent for the four trial wards during the pilot, with 56,000 electronic observations in total.
“The NEWS frequency reliability – showing observations completed on time – was also 31 per cent using the old paper system compared to 74 per cent for the wards using Patientrack.”
Patientrack has now been rolled out across inpatient wards at the current UHM site. A second roll-out is currently also underway at University Hospital Hairmyres, with plans for the University Hospital Wishaw and some community services, to follow.
