Articles related to PATIENT MONITORING

The FDA has granted clearance for Casana’s Heart Seat™ toilet seat to be used in homes for monitoring heart rate and oxygen saturation (SpO2) in adults aged 22 and above, weighing between 90 and 350 pounds. The toilet seat is equipped with sensors that can measure these vital signs and transmit the data to the Casana Cloud automatically. Healthcare providers can then access the data generated by three sensors: a ballistocardiogram, which measures heart mechanical activity; an electrocardiogram, which measures heart electrical activity; and a photoplethysmogram, which detects blood volume changes. A study assessing the accuracy of the seat demonstrated consistent measurements of blood pressure, stroke volume, and blood oxygenation compared to a hospital-grade vital signs monitor. Casana intends to conduct further testing and plans to submit an application to the FDA this year to include additional clinical measurements, such as blood pressure monitoring. The Heart Seat is expected to be available by the end of 2023.

At the 2023 HIMSS meeting, Dr. Sandra Kane-Gill discussed a new alert system being developed at UPMC to improve care for patients at risk for drug-associated acute kidney injury (AKI). According to Dr. Kane-Gill, drugs are involved in approximately 30% of AKI cases in hospitalized patients, but imprecise alert systems mean that at-risk patients could be overlooked. To address this challenge, Dr. Kane-Gill led a consensus-building project to identify 20 drugs that are probably or definitely nephrotoxic with routine use. UPMC has developed a prototype alert tool for AKI that uses this list of nephrotoxic drugs to accurately detect AKI in patients. Preliminary results indicate that for every five alerts generated, there was one case of drug-associated AKI, a higher accuracy rate than for other alert systems. Dr. Kane-Gill plans to further refine the alert tool before deploying it in practice at UPMC and is also interested in using machine learning to prevent episodes of kidney injury.

The new transistor technology could solve the problem that electrochemical signaling is typically too weak to monitor effectively. Current sensors have such low signal strength that it is impossible to monitor tissue responses in real time. Instead, blood samples or biopsies are used. The new technology lays a foundation for real time noninvasive, highly sensitive monitoring.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ahmed Siddiqi wanted to find a better approach to postoperative monitoring – one that came closer to direct, continuous visibility of patient progress during recovery – while reducing the burden on patients and the management team. His new digital care solution enabled his team to provide long-term remote patient monitoring while directly communicating with all patients. The platform’s remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) module helps the team meet the minimum engagement and data submission requirements to be eligible for RTM coverage.