Technology innovation award for OBS Medical's patient monitoring
system
15 December 2008
OBS Medical, a wholly-owned subsidiary of British company Oxford
BioSignals, has been awarded the prestigious 2008 North American Frost &
Sullivan Technology Innovation Award for its Visensia early-warning
patient monitoring system.
Frost & Sullivan’s Best Practices Awards recognise companies in a
variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding
achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership,
technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product
development.
OBS Medical’s Visensia product, now available in UK hospitals
following extensive trials, is the only patient monitoring system that
measures the interplay of the five 'standard' vital signs in continuous
real-time, giving an overall view of patient risk status.
Until now, it has only been possible to separately monitor the
various vital signs (blood pressure, blood oxygen, temperature, heart
rate, respiration rate) rather than measuring the correlations between
them. Visensia’s algorithms integrate available individual vital-sign
readings into a single numerical index, the Visensia Index (VSI),
providing medical staff with a reliable crisis alarm. Visensia virtually
eliminates false alarms, which currently make up 86% of all alarms in UK
hospitals.
Results of clinical trials, recently published in peer-reviewed
international journals, at the world-renowned University of Pittsburgh
Medical Centre have shown that Visensia offers several hours advance
warning of patient deterioration, buying valuable time for the medical
staff to administer treatment or prepare the patient for surgery.
“Unlike the traditional monitoring algorithms, Visensia personalises
patient monitoring by evaluating the ‘normal’ thresholds for individual
patients against pre-measured normal thresholds”, says Frost & Sullivan
Research Analyst Mike Arani. “The addition of this innovative solution
to any monitored unit will greatly boost alarm integrity and
timeliness.”
“Visensia can be integrated with any patient monitoring solution in
the market,” notes Arani. “It can collect and analyse all five vital
parameters from conventional bedside or portable monitors, thereby
enhancing the hospital’s existing monitoring system without the need for
costly upgrades.”
Marc Smith, Business Manager at Oxford Biosignals adds: “We are
thrilled to be back in the UK at this vital and exciting time for the
National Health Service. Given the consistently positive feedback from
trials of the Visensia early warning system in the USA, I feel confident
that we can act as both a support system for NHS nurses and life saver
for NHS patients as hospitals continue to fight to improve patient
safety.”
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