What started as a small pilot of BioButtons — medical grade wearable devices — in four units at HMH last spring, has expanded to include all non-ICU inpatient units systemwide. BioButtons are used to continuously monitor patient vitals in real-time. The resulting benefits are positively impacting patients and staff.
Some of the benefits include:
Enhances the care team – Automated hourly vitals collection enables a virtual remote monitoring team to act as an extra set of eyes and ears, providing a “safety net” for the bedside team. Additionally, the frequent vitals monitoring enables many more data points to be gathered over time, which allows for early detection of possible patient issues or deterioration.
Improves patient comfort – Since data is available hourly and integrates directly into Epic, patients appreciate fewer interruptions during the night from manual vitals, allowing them to get more sleep and rest. This is an improvement from the previous four-hour manual data collection intervals to six/eight-hour intervals.
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