Spot Check is unreliable, disruptive, and time consuming
Collecting vitals manually only every 4-6 hours can leave patients unmonitored 96% of the time1
Manual respiratory rate (RR) measurements for hospital patients are frequently inaccurate, often due to estimation and value bias (notably clustering at 18 or 20 breaths per minute)2,3
Routine vitals are a top “sleep interrupter.” In a 2024 multi-center study, 33% of all patient sleep interruptions were due to routine vital-sign checks.4
Telemetry is expensive, uncomfortable, and resource-intensive
Telemetry monitoring is expensive for hospitals (costing up to $1,400 per pt./day)5
Telemetry can be uncomfortable for patients, often associated with perceived physical and psychological limitations6
A retrospective review found that 22.3% of patients were inappropriately assigned telemetry at admission, and over half remained monitored longer than guidelines recommend7
Overuse of telemetry leads to unnecessary alarms8
The Case for Continuous Monitoring
Clear and Proven Benefits
Reduced Burnout, Empowered Clinicians
Decreased time spent manually documenting9
Reduced threshold alarms and alarm fatigue10
Allows for more bedside time with patients
Patient Safety
Earlier deterioration detection and faster intervention11
Badawy J, Nguyen OK, Clark C, Halm EA, Makam AN. Is Everyone Really Breathing 20 Times a Minute? Assessing Epidemiology and Variation in Recorded Respiratory Rate in Hospitalized Adults. BMJ Quality & Safety. 2017;26(10):832-836. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28652259/
Knees M, Mastalerz K, Simonetti J, Berry A. Decreasing inappropriate telemetry use via nursing-driven checklist and Electronic Health Record order set. Cureus. 2022 Sep 10;14(9):e28999. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36249623/
Holm MS, Fålun N, Bendz B, Fridlund B, Langørgen J, Pettersen TR, Sandau KE, Norekvål TM. The patient experience of in-hospital telemetry monitoring: a qualitative analysis. Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2024 Apr 12;23(3):258-266. https://academic.oup.com/eurjcn/article/23/3/258/7244653
Srinivasa E, Mankoo J, Kerr C. An evidence‐based approach to reducing cardiac telemetry alarm fatigue. Worldviews on Evid Based Nurs. 2017;14(4):265–273. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28432853/
Sigvardt E, Grønbaek KK, Jepsen ML, Søgaard M, Haahr L, Inácio A, Aasvang EK, Meyhoff CS. Workload associated with manual assessment of vital signs as compared with continuous wireless monitoring. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 2024 Feb;68(2):274-279. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aas.14333
Weller, G.B.; Mault, J.; Ventura, M.E.; Adams, J.; Campbell, F.J.; Tremper, K.K. A retrospective observational study of continuous wireless vital sign monitoring via a medical grade wearable device on hospitalized floor patients. J. Clin. Med. 2024, 13, 4747. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/13/16/4747
Eddahchouri Y, Peelen RV, Koeneman M, Touw HRW, van Goor H, Bredie SJH. Effect of continuous wireless vital sign monitoring on unplanned ICU admissions and rapid response team calls: a before-and-after study. Br J Anaesth. 2022 May;128(5):857-863. https://www.bjanaesthesia.org/article/S0007-0912(22)00073-3/fulltext
Weller RS, Foard KL, Harwood TN. Evaluation of a wireless, portable, wearable multi-parameter vital signs monitor in hospitalized neurological and neurosurgical patients. J Clin Monit Comput. 2018;32(5):945–951. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10877-017-0085-0
Yoder JC, Yuen TC, Churpek MM, Arora VM, Edelson DP. A prospective study of nighttime vital sign monitoring frequency and risk of clinical deterioration. JAMA Intern Med. 2013 Sep 9;173(16):1554-5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3773251/