To improve patient monitoring and experience, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) is replacing existing vital signs machines (VSMs) and ensuring that all care spaces now have a dedicated machine.
These new installations allow for one VSM dedicated to each patient for each general inpatient care space.They replace previous VSMs that were on a roll stand and shared between clinicians and patients. The new machines mean clinicians can check a patient’s vital signs at any time without having to search for a machine on a roll stand.
This initiative was driven by several factors aimed at enhancing clinician workflows and improving patient care and safety. Having patient-dedicated equipment aligns with best practices for infection prevention and control, eliminating the need for equipment sharing and frequent disinfection. Most importantly, clinicians now have immediate access to the necessary tools to perform vital signs assessments.
“This investment is a great step forward in efficient workflows and patient safety at LHSC,” says Kelly Miller, Professional Practice Consultant at LHSC. “Having a VSM for each inpatient enables the health-care team to always have this essential tool at the ready.”
This new setup supports LHSC’s transformational catalyst of organizational optimization which enables advancement of the organization’s Strategic Plan.
With VSMs readily available, clinicians can quickly collect vital signs data and enter it into a patient’s records. The new machines also integrate with existing systems such as Sepsis and Early Warning Nursing Alerts, which use algorithms to provide real-time notifications to nurses when a pattern of clinical information needs further investigation.
Future plans will include electronic health record (EHR) integration, meaning data from the VSMs can be input into a patient’s health record directly from the VSM. While the timeline for EHR integration is yet to be determined, this equipment upgrade ensures that the necessary equipment is already in place
The installation of the new VSMs is complete at University Hospital and will be completed at Victoria Hospital in the coming months.