For Hospital Management
Institute for Healthcare Improvement urges hospitals to “rescue” patients
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s “Transforming Care at the Bedside” initiative aims to improve patient safety in medical/surgical units. One of this program’s key strategies is to promote “rapid response teams that can ‘rescue’ patients before a crisis occurs.” Of course, it is impossible to “rescue patients before a crisis occurs” if the nursing staff doesn’t know that the patient’s condition is worsening. The LifeBed system can be the early alert the nurse needs to be notified of the patient’s deteriorating condition.
LifeBed System helps your RRTs know when to respond
Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) work best when they get to the bedside at the earliest possible moment to treat a patient in distress. Because the LifeBed system continuously measures heart and respiratory rates, it can alert the nurse to assess the patient as soon as the patient’s condition starts to change. If an intervention is needed, the nurse can intervene or make an early call to the RRT, greatly increasing the likelihood for better patient outcomes and more lives saved.
It means better patient care and more lives saved. It also means an opportunity for a hospital to shine, with RRT successful interventions and measurable improvement in care and outcome indicators that the Joint Commission and other organizations are expecting from hospitals.
LifeBed raises patient safety to a whole new level
Without any connections to the patient, sensors in the LifeBed coverlet detect changes in heart and respiratory rates and convey this data to the LifeBed display mounted on the bed or wall. When rates exceed norms, or selected parameters, nurses are alerted through the hospital’s call system. It’s the technology that hospitals need to meet mandated patient safety goals. In addition it helps physicians and nurses to better manage care and assist in saving lives.
LifeBed watches over patients when no one else can
Countless hours and thousands of dollars and can go into evaluating a patient’s condition, developing a correct diagnosis and establishing a care plan. And that’s just the beginning of the investment in care that hospitals make for every patient. The LifeBed system helps ensure that this investment of time, talent and money pays dividends by “watching over” the patient 24 / 7. Any patient’s condition can deteriorate unexpectedly and sometimes rapidly. When nurses can’t be at the bedside, the LifeBed system is there. It alerts nurses to the change in patient status and allows them to intervene at the earliest possible moment. Early recognition may save a life.
LifeBed system helps hospitals better manage care
Since the LifeBed system continuously measures heart and respiratory rates it may allow an earlier transfer of a patient from ICU or telemetry to a med/surg unit. Allowing staff to best manage patient care and care resources.
LifeBed System helps hospitals respond to the reality of sicker patients
The acuity of med/surg unit patients seems to increase each year. Patients are older, sicker and have more co-morbidities and risk factors. The increased stress among nurses is palpable. It’s incumbent on hospital management to seek innovative solutions that enable nurses to be better able to assess and manage med/surg patients. The LifeBed system is part of the solution. It helps nurses by being at the bedside when nurses can’t be, “watching over” patients and alerting nurses immediately if the patient’s condition begins to worsen. LifeBed brings nurses to the bedside and provides objective data to support their own professional clinical judgment.
LifeBed System helps med/surg unit staff morale, retention
Everything nurses do for patients’ care is designed to stabilize and improve their condition so they can be discharged with the highest possible quality of life. There is nothing worse for a nurse than to walk into a seemingly stable patient’s room for a scheduled assessment only to find them unresponsive. Even though it is the accepted standard of care in most med/surg units, periodic vital sign monitoring & nursing assessments cannot always detect when a patient is going to get into trouble. By confinuously tracking vital signs on the patient while the nurse is away, the LifeBed helps nurses save lives… nothing boosts morale more!
A better bed exit system reduces costs of falls
HealthGrades reports that one of the greatest patient safety risks is post-operative hip fracture due to falls. In fact, many hospital injuries and subsequent mortalities are associated with patient falls. Patients who are neurologically deficient, or disoriented from post-op pain medication require a system to prevent them leaving their beds. To discourage these bed exits, the LifeBed system can be set to call the nurse and to play a pre-recorded “please return to bed” message to the patient. This feature even allows friends or family members to record a personalized message for the patient in any language.
Patients give high scores to hospitals that use the LifeBed system
Sensors in the coverlet of the LifeBed system continuously measure the patient’s heart and respiratory rates without leads or connections. As a result, patients are unencumbered by leads and wires. Compliance isn’t an issue. The patient’s position, whether sitting up or lying on his stomach or side, does not affect the LifeBed systems’ ability to track a patient’s condition.
Patients and family members who are aware of the system love the idea of continuous vigilance that the LifeBed system provides. From their point of view, it provides reassurance that the hospital and nursing staff are actively concerned about patient safety and quality care.
LifeBed helps nurse recruitment and retention
There is a nationwide nursing shortage that is predicted to get worse before it gets better. Even hospitals that have the nursing staff they need today always want to attract and keep the best of the best. Because the LifeBed system makes it possible for nurses to provide safer care while taking some of the stress out of nursing, it gives hospitals a competitive edge in attracting and keeping the nurses they want.
The LifeBed system demonstrates your hospital’s commitment to patient safety and attracts those nursing professionals that share the same ethos of providing the best patient care.
Earliest possible detection and intervention is the new expectation
Whether it is the Joint Commission, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement or the National Patient Safety Foundation, there is a universal call for hospitals to improve patient safety. Choose to be a leader. Deploy the LifeBed system throughout your med/surg units. You’ll meet mandated goals, gain the praise of healthcare organizations promoting patient safety and have a powerful opportunity to demonstrate leadership to your boards, employees, patients and the general public. Best of all, you could save lives.
Deploy the LifeBed System
Hoana Medical, Inc. offers many different packages for the LifeBed™ Patient Vigilance System. Please contact us for further details as to which package would work best for your institutions needs.