VitalPAC
VitalPAC© system for patient monitoring
Summary
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW) has deployed cutting edge wireless technology to enable a step change in the delivery of patient care. Using VitalPAC© software on handheld computers, clinical staff now record patient observations electronically enabling ‘real time’ patient monitoring across the hospital and improved patient safety.
These electronic observations have now replaced the old paper charts and ensure that accurate, legible and reliable patient data is available wherever it is needed. The system is now deployed across 33 wards totalling 890 beds enabling 1000 users to collect over 3500 observation sets per day.
Implementation
A phased approach was taken to the implementation of the project with the operational pilot conducted on the Renal ward at UHCW between May 2007 and December 2007. Following the pilot the project moved into the deployment phase between March and August 2008. This resulted in the full roll out of VitalPAC across the University Hospital site using over 250 PDA devices trust wide.
Benefits
The VitalPAC system has shown the potential to provide significant added clinical benefits which can be described as;
- Provision of automatic MEWS (modified early warning system) scoring and alerts without additional work from nurses.
- A single electronic based observation chart has been implemented resulting in an increase from 94% to 100% in recording MEWS scores on observation charts, together with a 14% improvement in the overall accuracy of MEWS scores.
- The system is set up to alert the Critical Care Outreach Team if the MEWS score reaches a certain level and the appropriate treatment protocol can be instigated quickly.
- More timely and appropriate observations with staff reminded to take the observations, MEWS protocols used as real time alerts easily adjusted and communicated to the nurse at the point of care.
Summary
VitalPAC has provided itself as a truly innovative system that has already demonstrated improvements in the delivery of clinical care. The implementation was a finalist in the BT eHealth Awards and is the largest implementation of the technology in the UK. Working with the software developers the Trust is continuing to develop new opportunities to use the system.
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