B.1: Wearable-based continuous patient monitoring

Context and goals

Contact: Dr Samuel Wehrli (ZHAW), Lukas Geissmann (Leitwert AG) & Maren Leifke (USB)

A deterioration in health is often signalled by changes in individual vital signs. The earlier this is recognised, the earlier it is possible to react and potentially prevent an unfavourable course. In future, this strategy aims to avoid complications during hospitalisation and transfers to intensive care units wherever possible.

Mobile sensors (wearables) have the potential to provide timely information on patients' state of health thanks to continuous data collection. The technology is cost-effective, flexible and convenient. A new type of early warning system for continuous patient monitoring (cEWS) based on wearables is intended to automate and improve the clinical monitoring of patients. By continuously recording individual vital signs, statements can be made about the current state of a patient's health and predictions can be made about its progression. If there is a risk of deterioration, early warnings can be issued and interventions can be made. The use of wearables therefore has the potential to supplement the selective recording of vital signs that is currently common on the wards and improve clinical outcomes.

Planned results

The development of a personalisable cEWS is intended to improve the inpatient monitoring of patients in terms of continuous data measurement and automated documentation in the clinical information system, thereby reducing the workload of clinical staff and increasing patient safety through early detection of deterioration. It also facilitates the monitoring of isolated patients and offers increased patient comfort thanks to wireless data transmission.

Contribution to overall innovation

The cEWS is an open, expandable system that can also be used for other use cases and is also device-agnostic. This means that it works with suitable wearables from different manufacturers. It can be integrated into existing software solutions and extend their functionality. In this way, it creates synergies with other clinically or scientifically interesting applications, such as patient mobility monitoring. As the cEWS can also be used outside of inpatient care, it contributes to the vision of Hospital@home.

Knowledge contributions from the project

Wissensdatenbank

Vital Signs and the Evolution of Patient Monitoring Systems

The four key vital signs routinely measured in clinical settings are body temperature (BT), blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and respiratory rate…

Wissensdatenbank

How can early warnings score improve care?

In the previous article, we explored the challenges hospitals face in the timely detection of patient deterioration and the validation of effective…

Wissensdatenbank

Bringing Wearables to the Hospital: Infrastructure Requirements and the Role of IoT

As wearable technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, its integration into healthcare is poised to transform hospital operations.

Wissensdatenbank

Wearable Technology: The Future of Hospitals

The healthcare industry is undergoing a transformative shift towards more efficient and patient-centric care.

Partners

Success is based on a solid partnership, which is why a large number of partners are involved in the project, whose participation guarantees its overall success:

Institut für Computational Life Sciences (ICLS)

The Institute of Computational Life Sciences (ICLS) at the ZHAW has extensive experience in the analysis of biological-medical time series, images and categorical data using machine learning and has already applied its expertise in time series analysis for monitoring to related problems.

Universitätsspital Basel - Innovationsmanagement, Dept. Digitalisierung & ICT

As an innovative hospital, the USB pursues the goal of making modern technology available for the benefit of patients and staff. In addition to numerous other innovative approaches to patient care, the Innovation Management team has many years of expertise in the development, validation and integration of wearables for medical use. In order to constantly offer patients and other stakeholders the latest technology, the USB regularly conducts studies and, as a hospital, has the routine to recruit patients for the pilot study and collaborate with other stakeholders.

Leitwert AG

Leitwert is an SME with roots at the ETH. We specialise in the development of software for medical wearables and their integration into clinical research and care processes for the continuous measurement of health data. Our Device Hub platform is optimised for organisations that use both inpatient and outpatient wearables from various manufacturers and want to manage and monitor them via a single interface. The data always remains on the systems and under the full control of our customers. Our gateway enables complete automation of data synchronisation between wearables and the device hub without patients having to operate a mobile phone or register. This allows it to be used in inpatient hospital operations and reduces the need to intervene in patients' everyday lives at home. The Device Hub can be operated on its own or in combination with clinical information systems and analysis services.