News

Welch Allyn Expands Connex Vital Signs Monitor with Customizable Scoring App

New point-of-care calculator expands custom data entry to help improve patient safety and clinical decision-making at the bedside and maximize existing device investment

Mon Jul 14 2014By Welch Allyn

 

Welch Allyn, a leading medical diagnostic device company that delivers pragmatic innovation at the point of care, today announced a new scoring app for its Connex® Vital Signs Monitor (VSM).  The ability to score patient data on the Connex VSM multiparameter device using the hospital’s protocols enables healthcare professionals to evaluate multiple parameters in a single score, which can include patient vitals and manually-entered assessments and measurements.  The Connex® Scoring App™ can help track signs of patient deterioration at the bedside using the hospital’s own Early Warning Score (EWS) protocols to determine the likelihood of adverse events.  The new app uses a point-of-care calculator to automate and color code customizable bedside scoring protocols for any type of clinical issue, as well as facility-determined interventions, to help providers make informed patient care decisions quickly.


“The availability of a bedside scoring app for existing Connex VSM customers gives them an immediate, point-of-care patient assessment tool that can be customized to meet facility protocols,” said Doug Linquest, senior vice president, Vital Signs Business Unit at Welch Allyn.  “It allows hospitals to provide standard tools and protocols where they’re needed.  For example, it can be used to document and track signs of patient deterioration minute-by-minute right at the bedside—to provide an early warning sign of possible adverse events, enable timely intervention to help improve patient safety, and potentially mitigate unnecessary cost and risk.”

The Scoring App can be used for more than EWS.  Hospitals can configure it to match other scoring protocols such as sepsis scores, fall risk assessments, pressure ulcer risk scores and any other calculation that needs to be done quickly at the bedside and provide care guidance right on the device.  For example, this guidance can help clinicians recognize factors such as when the patient may require continuous monitoring using features such as Microstream® end-tidal carbon dioxide technology from Covidien® (NYSE: COV); contact-free motion, heart rate and respiratory rate surveillance from EarlySense®; or acoustic respiration from Masimo® (NASDAQ: MASI).

The Connex Scoring App builds on the device parameters and customizable data fields of the Connex VSM, which also captures automatic measurements such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and pulse oximetry (SpO2).  Standard manual parameters include fields such as respiration, height, weight and pain level, but can be expanded to allow capture of nearly any data the hospital would like to document at the point-of-care, such as consciousness level, intakes and outputs, or other details used in the hospital’s score.  When used as part of the Welch Allyn Connex® Clinical Surveillance System (CSS) the device can wirelessly transfer the data to a wide range of electronic medical record (EMR) systems.  Medical charting is automated and data becomes immediately available to clinical staff to help improve decision-making and patient outcomes.

“As hospitals struggle to remain competitive in the new healthcare system, they’ll need every advantage to deliver enhanced patient care at lower cost,” said Holly Mount, RN, BSN, MSN, manager, Clinical Consulting at Welch Allyn.  “The pressure on clinicians will only escalate as new healthcare rules make the need to quickly identify changes in patient health even more important.  The life of med/surg nurses is more complicated than ever.  The ability to quickly and automatically calculate scores and communicate next steps per the hospital’s protocols can be empowering, and enables nurses to focus on their critical nursing skills and the patient rather than documentation and number crunching.”

As part of the Welch Allyn Connex CSS, the vitals documentation process becomes automated—reducing manual steps and potential delays and the errors that go with them. The addition of the Connex Scoring App allows users to document accurate patient data from the bedside—giving clinicians instant access to patient data anytime, anywhere and allows them to identify abnormal vital signs more quickly.  It also allows for remote device configuration, sent directly to the Connex VSM via the hospital’s network, to help quickly deploy new device settings and protocols without investing in a new device.

“The list of upgrades for the Connex VSM is impressive,” added Linquest.  “New upgradeable features like the Scoring App help keep existing devices up to date with the latest technologies—providing hospitals the opportunity to maximize their investment, gain efficiencies and reduce risk.”

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Please review our Privacy Policy for more details.
I Agree