GE Healthcare (NYSE:GE) today introduced a continuous monitoring platform with wearable sensors for detecting patient deterioration.
The technology, aimed to detect deterioration earlier than traditional sampling methods to improve patient outcomes, was developed at GE Healthcare’s global center of excellence for monitoring solutions in Helsinki, Finland.
GE Healthcare’s Portrait Mobile platform wirelessly monitors throughout the patient’s lifecycle during the entire hospital stay of a patient, helping doctors to identify worsening conditions. The company designed it to be worn by patients and communicate with a mobile monitor.
The technology collects data on respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and pulse rate for general ward and post-operative patients, enabling caregivers to detect the changes that indicate the development of cardiorespiratory complications or infectious diseases.
Patients can also move freely around the hospital and not remain at the bedside with the wireless and portable nature of Portrait Mobile, GE Healthcare said. Visitors can interact with the patient without disruptions from the technology, while mobility can help improve patient outcomes and reduce length of stay, potentially reducing costs and increasing patient satisfaction.
“In a clinical evaluation study conducted in a London hospital in the UK, 90% of nurses reported that they felt more reassured about their patients’ condition when using continuous monitoring compared to spot checks of vital signs,” Erno Muuranto, Engineering Director at GE Healthcare in Finland, said in the release. “Portrait Mobile offers reliable measurement technology and meaningful alarms in a mobile environment.”