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SEND- A system for vital sign observation for hospital patients

By Julian Bradwell, Drayson Technologies Added 23rd Aug, 2017 Updated 23rd Jul, 2019

SEND is a system for vital-sign observations in hospital patients (blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen saturation and temperature) and risk score estimation. SEND has enhanced the clinical care of over 80,000 patients over the past few years throughout all the adult wards at hospitals of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. SEND has been shown to;

  • Provide early warning of patient deterioration
  • Enhances care by efficiently capturing patient information
  • Eliminates errors in the early warning score calculation
  • Allows patients data to be securely shared in new ways
  • Supports clinical governance and safety auditing

About

SEND: a system for vital-sign observations in hospital patients (blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, oxygen saturation and temperature) and risk score estimation, which has enhanced the clinical care of over 80,000 patients over the past two years.

As well as improving individual patient care, the SEND system allows information about patients to be shared between different wards. This ensures quicker decision-making and allows cross-linking with other patient data. On many wards, patients are now prioritised during the ward round according to their latest risk score.

SEND has been rolled out throughout all the adult wards in the four hospitals of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, with more than 16m observations already generated since January 2015. A pilot study at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford suggests that SEND reduces the average time to undertake a set of vital-sign observations by approximately 60 seconds.

Benefits/Savings Overview

  • Visibility  - Makes deteriorating patients immediately visible to appropriate clinicians. The right patient, to the right clinician, at the right time.
  • Accuracy & Speed - Improves accuracy and speed of data recording.
  • Eliminates Errors - Eliminates errors in early warning score calculation.
  • Appropriate Care - Prompting and supporting appropriate care for each set of vital signs.
  • Integrated Data - Integrating early warning data into the hospital’s Integrated Digital Care Record.
  • Supports Governance - Supporting clinical governance and safety auditing.

 

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