Masimo, the inventor of Pulse CO-Oximetry and Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, has installed Patient SafetyNet System at John Hunter Children's Hospital in New South Wales.

The new, remote monitoring and wireless clinician notification system is currently being used to noninvasively and continuously monitor the physiological status of selected pediatric patients in the medical ward ensuring early detection of deterioration or distress and enabling potentially life-saving interventions.

John Hunter Children’s Hospital said that the Patient SafetyNet system keeps patients safer by continuously, noninvasively, and remotely monitoring multiple physiological parameters, including the amount of oxygen in the blood and pulse rate, and automatically alerting clinicians to changes that signal patient distress or deterioration.

Results of a landmark two-year clinical study published in February demonstrated that Patient SafetyNet helps to reduce rescue events and activations by 65% and ICU transfers by 48% contributing to improvements in patient outcomes.

Masimo Patient SafetyNet is fully-integrated into John Hunter Children’s Hospital’s existing IT infrastructure with a central monitoring station located at the nurse’s station. The central monitoring station displays every Patient SafetyNet monitor on the ward, enabling nursing staff to view vital signs and alarm activations for each patient. The hospital is hoping to raise funds for more units.

Combining the performance of Masimo SET pulse oximetry with respiration rate monitoring at the point-of-care and automated, wireless clinician notifications via pager, Patient SafetyNet provides an unmatched level of safety for up to 80 patients on four floors.

The Hospital said that the system uses open IEEE industry standards for connectivity, which allows for more efficient sharing of data across a hospital’s IT platforms, along with the option of full integration into a hospital’s existing IT infrastructure providing a lower overall cost of ownership and improved financial benefits.

Cathy Grahame, medical ward nursing unit manager, said: “The Patient SafetyNet system allows us to respond immediately to a patient whose vital signs have changed, which, in this time-critical environment, improves our quality of care.”