Accurate Readings are Vital

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5 Minutes

Moving from Manual to Digital Vital Signs Acquisition.

Vital signs matter. The first set of patient vital signs can provide a baseline reference for the entire chain of healthcare.

Do these common worries sound familiar? If so, it may be time for your practice to move to a digital vital signs acquisition.

“This blood pressure reading seems high. My patient is clearly uncomfortable here. Should I screen for hypertension or chalk it up to nerves?”

Evidence suggests that manual single-reading methods may not be sufficient for identifying and diagnosing hypertension. Mitigating factors may include white coat hypertension, among others¹
Blood pressure averaging has been shown to reduce misdiagnosis of hypertension.² The Welch Allyn Connex Spot Monitor features automated blood pressure averaging and can be used for unattended monitoring. That means clinicians can leave the room while blood pressure is measured—helping to reduce the risk of white coat hypertension without impacting accuracy.

“Did I type in that patient’s blood pressure as 117/76 or 171/76?”

Manual transcription can easily lead to data entry errors and omissions in the EMR, which can negatively impact treatment decisions and patient outcomes.^3,4
Connect the Spot Vital Signs 4400 Device or Connex Spot Monitor to EMR’s, sending accurate, timely vital signs data to your EMR with the tap of a button. No manual data entry required for pulse rate, blood pressure, temperature, and SpO₂.

“Today was a busy day. In a rush, I rounded a few blood pressure readings up or down. I hope it doesn’t impact diagnosis.”
Under-or over-estimating blood pressure by as little as 5 mmHg can lead clinicians to incorrectly rule in or out hypertension. AOBP is not subject to rounding off readings to the nearest zero value ^5,22 which may occur in more than 50% of manual BP measurements. The Connex Spot Monitor will record measurements and send them directly to the EMR for accurate documentation.

“My co-workers tell me I don’t hear as well as I used to. Could that be affecting my blood pressure assessments?”
Hearing levels and other environmental factors can impact the accuracy of manual readings.¹ Hearing loss may lead to misreading the Korotkoff sounds at systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure.⁶ The Connex Spot Monitor will capture a full set of automated patient vitals in under a minute,⁷ and help standardize clinical technique across practitioners.

INTEGRATING THE CONNEX SPOT MONITOR OR SPOT VITAL SIGNS 4400 DEVICE INTO YOUR PRACTICE CAN HELP YOU:

Standardize workflow and clinical technique across practitioners.
Provide accurate data, speeding up decision making and improving patient safety.⁸
Eliminate documentation and transcription errors.^9,10
SureBP technology measures on inflation for a comfortable, accurate and expedient read (less than 20 seconds per read).⁷
Both the Connex Spot Monitor and Spot Vital Signs 4400 device can customize protocols for optimal blood pressure averaging technique.
EMR connectivity for direct documentation in the patient chart.
Pulse oximetry options include: Massimo, Nellcor, and Nonin. The Spot Vital Signs 4400 device strictly uses Nonin.

The Welch Allyn Connex Spot Monitor blood pressure averaging view

Rx only: For safe and proper use of the products mentioned herein, please refer to the Operator’s Manual or Instructions for Use.

References

1. Pickering, Thomas G., MD, DPhil, et. al: Recommendations for Blood Pressure Measurement in Humans and Experimental Animals. Circulation. 2005; 111:697-716.

2. Data on File, 2019. Robert Smith, MD. Blood pressure averaging methodology: Decreasing the risk of misdiagnosing hypertension

3. Meccariello, Meg et al. “Vital Time Savings Evaluating the Use of an Automated Vital Signs Documentation System on a Medical / Surgical Unit.” JHIM, vol. 24, no. 4, 2010, pp. 45-51.

4. Bauer, Jeffrey C., et al. “Data Entry Automation improves cost, quality, performance, and job satisfaction in a hospital nursing unit.” JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, vol. 50, no. 1, 2019, pp. 34–39, https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000000836

5. Myers MG. The great myth of office blood pressure measurement. J Hypertens 2012; 30(10): 1894-1898.

6. Song, S., Lee, J., Chee, Y., Jang, D. P., & Kim, I. Y. (2014). Does the accuracy of blood pressure measurement correlate with hearing loss of the observer?. Blood pressure monitoring, 19(1), 14–18. https://doi.org/10.1097/MBP.0000000000000016

7. Baxter Data on File , 2019

8. Alpert, Bruce S. “Validation of the Welch Allyn SureBP (inflation) and StepBP (deflation) algorithms by AAMI standard testing and BHS data analysis.” Blood pressure monitoring vol. 16,2 (2011): 96-98. doi:10.1097/MBP.0b013e328345232f

9. Meccariello, Meg et al. “Vital Time Savings Evaluating the Use of an Automated Vital Signs Documentation System on a Medical / Surgical Unit.” JHIM, vol. 24, no. 4, 2010, pp. 45-51.

10. Bauer, Jeffrey C., et al. “Data Entry Automation improves cost, quality, performance, and job satisfaction in a hospital nursing unit.” JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, vol. 50, no. 1, 2019, pp. 34–39, https://doi.org/10.1097/nna.0000000000000836