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Clinical Manager Teresa Seguin (left) and RN Claudette St-Jacques demonstrate The Ottawa Hospital’s new electronic vital-signs monitor.

New electronic monitors that record patients’ vital signs are making care safer at The Ottawa Hospital by reducing errors, improving infection control and saving valuable nursing hours.

Vital-signs monitors identify the patient and then read blood pressure, pulse, temperature and oxygen saturation levels at precise intervals. With the push of a button, the information is recorded instantly in the patient’s electronic medical record and can then be easily interpreted.

“It saves time and it saves energy,” said Teresa Seguin, a clinical manager at the General Campus. “Nurses don’t need to go looking for charts to see vital signs – it’s all right there in front of you whenever you need it.”

Normally, vital signs would be measured by nurses who jot the information down on a paper chart.

According to research by medical-device manufacturer Welch Allyn, as many as 10,000 transcription errors – information that’s miscopied or entered in the wrong chart – happen every year at a typical 200-bed hospital.

An electronic system minimizes the chance for errors, resulting in safer patient care.

“We always have the correct information and we can see trends instantly right there on the screen,” said Seguin. “It’s much better for the patient.”

The monitors aren’t shared between patients, and have flat, easy-to-wipe screens, making it easier to control the spread of infections.

Having the monitors stationed at the bedside also means that time isn’t wasted searching for equipment. This simple change could save 250,000 nursing hours every year that can be better spent caring for patients.

The electronic vital-signs monitors are now on one floor at the General Campus and they’re scheduled to go hospital-wide by December.

Seguin said that’s great news. “It’s easy and it’s helpful. It’s safer for patients and nurses love it. It’s such a positive project.”

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