Remote Vital Monitoring in Epic Saves Lives

St. Luke’s University Health Network in Pennsylvania reduced mortality by 62% in a year in a pilot unit by using bedside devices to monitor patients continuously and send data to their Epic system, so clinicians know what’s going on even if they’re not nearby.

Because changes in a patient’s condition are difficult to predict, continuous monitoring provides the data that’s needed in order to act quickly. Physicians see changes in a patient’s condition on their mobile devices using Epic, “enabling a quicker therapeutic response and avoiding emergent situations,” said Dr. Aldo Carmona, chairman of the department of anesthesia and critical care and SVP of clinical integration. He added that high-acuity patients need vital signs taken more frequently than the standard practice of every four or eight hours.

Constant vitals monitoring also reduced critical care transfers and the use of telemetry by 25%. Preventing costly critical care situations contributed to an estimated savings of $900,000, in addition to improving patient care.

St. Luke’s plans to expand their bedside monitoring solution to two additional care facilities. Read more from EHR Intelligence.