Visensia for early detection of deteriorating vital signs in adults in hospital

Introduction

The vital signs of acutely ill patients in hospital are monitored so that appropriate care can be given if their condition deteriorates.

Vital signs recorded include:

A retrospective case record review of 1000 adults who died in 2009 in 10 acute hospitals in England judged that 52 of these deaths (5.2%) were preventable (Hogan et al. 2012). The main factor associated with the preventable deaths was clinical monitoring, including: the failure to act upon results of tests or clinical findings; failure to set up and respond to monitoring systems; or failure to increase the intensity of care when needed. The NHS database of patient safety incidents recorded over 2000 preventable deaths in adult NHS patients in England from 1 June 2010 to 31 October 2012 (Donaldson et al. 2014). Again, the main factor associated with these preventable deaths was mismanagement of patient deterioration, which accounted for 35% of these deaths. Mismanagement included failure to act on or recognise deterioration, failure to give ordered treatment or support in a timely way, and failure to observe patients' vital signs.