Toumaz Limited (AIM: TMZ), a pioneer in low cost, ultra-low power wireless communications technology, announces the results of its pilot study for its SensiumVitals® disposable wireless vital signs monitoring solution.
The study exceeded expectations with SensiumVitals® detecting all patients who experienced deterioration in their condition between routine ward observation rounds, preventing more serious clinical problems and saving an average of $9,004 per patient, per stay.
The pilot study at Saint John’s Health Center, Santa Monica, USA demonstrated that the use of SensiumVitals® on patients in the general wards of the hospital facilitated early intervention and avoided the escalation of their conditions and prevented costly admissions to intensive care or high dependency units. It also contributed significantly to shorter hospital stays.
Independent analysis of the cost benefits of the SensiumVitals® solution concluded that the average cost saving for each patient receiving early intervention was $9,004 per hospital stay. Also, these patients had on average a six day reduction in their hospital stay compared to a matched comparison group. This research and analysis was conducted by researchers from the Analysis Group of Boston and Université du Québec à Montréal.
SensiumVitals® is an ultra-light weight, wireless, wearable, FDA-cleared medical device. It enables caregivers to rapidly detect changes in temperature, heart and respiration rates. These small patches contain pre-gelled ECG electrodes which are attached to the patient’s chest to provide continuous monitoring of vital signs that can be viewed on screen at the ward’s central station, or a portable web enabled device.
SensiumVitals® can be set to send alerts automatically to doctors’ and nurses’ pagers or smart phones and to seamlessly deliver patient vital signs data to a hospital’s Electronic Medical Records System. Of the nurses who used the device, 85% reported that continuous monitoring of vitals was useful.
Dawna Hendel, Chief Nursing Officer at Saint John’s, commented:
“Healthcare costs are a concern for everybody, as well as patient outcomes. Instead of getting patients’ vital signs every four or six hours, this allows us to identify changes early. Ideally, we would roll it out to all of the medical-surgical units and the emergency room. It really does improve care for patients.”
Anthony Sethill, Toumaz CEO, added:
“The efficacy of this type of patient monitoring device in clinical practice and its ability to immediately alert medical professionals to patient deterioration has the potential to deliver tangible improvements in patient outcomes, reduce hospital stays and aid in safeguarding patient health.
“The success of this pilot study clearly indicates that significant cost savings can be made by a hospital deploying SensiumVitals® across its general medical and surgical wards.”
Following its success in the pilot study, SensiumVitals® is anticipated to receive CE marking during 2013, and the Group is in advanced planning for a pilot with a private hospital group in the UK.
The results of Toumaz’s pilot study have been published here: www.toumaz.com
