The healthcare industry faces a growing challenge: how to manage complexity and ensure patient safety while navigating staff shortages, technological advancements, and increasing demands for efficiency. Centralized surveillance and virtual care are emerging as powerful tools to address these issues. Angus Douglas, Chief Solutions Architect at GE Healthcare’s Patient Monitoring Division, joined us to discuss how these systems are transforming care delivery and addressing some of healthcare’s most pressing challenges.
Centralized surveillance has evolved significantly over the past decade. "We’ve observed a quantum shift toward virtualized models of care and enterprise hub-and-spoke surveillance," Douglas explains. These systems aim to enhance patient safety, reduce alarm fatigue, and standardize care across facilities.
One example is the Central Telemetry Monitoring Unit (CMU). These units, which have been a staple in healthcare for years, now operate on a much larger scale, transitioning from unit-based operations to enterprise-wide networks. A notable example is a nationwide project with CommonSpirit Health, which connects hospitals across the country to a centralized monitoring center in Arizona. This allows remote monitor techs to oversee patient vitals and alarms in real time, reducing unnecessary interruptions for nurses and ensuring timely responses to critical alerts.
"We’ve observed a quantum shift toward virtualized models of care and enterprise hub-and-spoke surveillance."
Reducing Alarm Fatigue and Enhancing Safety
Alarm fatigue is a significant issue for healthcare providers, with nurses often inundated by a barrage of alerts, many of which are non-actionable. Centralized surveillance systems aim to reduce this burden by filtering out insignificant events and prioritizing actionable alarms. As Douglas highlights, “We typically see a 50-80% reduction in alarms sent to caregivers when surveillance systems are deployed.” This not only eases the workload for nurses but also enhances patient safety by ensuring critical alerts are addressed promptly.
For example, a study at Baptist Memphis found a 50% reduction in alarms sent to caregivers after implementing centralized surveillance. These systems also cut down on unmonitored time for patients, a critical factor in preventing sentinel events. Douglas notes that earlier initiatives in Florida revealed 70% of sentinel events occurred during unmonitored periods, underscoring the importance of reliable surveillance.
Leveraging Virtual Care to Address Workforce Challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent "great resignation" exacerbated staffing shortages, leaving many hospitals with less experienced nurses handling increasingly complex cases. Virtual care has emerged as a solution to provide additional layers of oversight and support. Through remote monitoring and predictive analytics, experienced nurses can identify early signs of patient deterioration and take proactive measures, such as initiating rapid response protocols.
One successful example is CHI St. Luke’s Health in Houston, where two experienced remote nurses monitored 400 patients using algorithms to flag high-risk cases. This approach halved the number of rapid response calls that escalated to ICU transfers, significantly improving patient outcomes and reducing hospital stays.
Overcoming Implementation Challenges
While the benefits of centralized surveillance and virtual care are clear, implementing these systems is not without challenges. According to Douglas, one major obstacle is aligning priorities across multiple stakeholders, including IT teams, clinical staff, and vendors. “Strong ownership and clear governance are critical to avoid the subtle sabotage that can arise from resistance to change,” he says.
Another challenge is ensuring consistent processes across facilities. Small differences in workflows or configurations can create confusion in centralized operations. Multi-site committees and enterprise-wide policies help standardize practices, ensuring smoother implementation and operation.
Designing for Clinical Transformation
Successful integration of centralized surveillance and virtual care requires a focus on clinical transformation, not just technology. “Technology, while important, comes second,” Douglas emphasizes. The priority is designing workflows and change management strategies that fit the organization’s needs. This includes constant measurement, iterative improvements, and comprehensive training for staff.
At GE Healthcare, the outcomes delivery team plays a key role in this process, addressing the clinical, operational, and technical complexities of these programs. By providing customizable analytics and end-to-end workflow analyses, the team ensures organizations are equipped to achieve full adoption and continuous improvement.
The Future of Surveillance and Virtual Care
Looking ahead, emerging technologies such as predictive analytics and remote patient monitoring (RPM) will further enhance the capabilities of centralized surveillance and virtual care. For example, AI-driven tools can analyze patient data in real time to predict deterioration, enabling earlier interventions. Remote monitoring devices, combined with telehealth platforms, can extend these benefits to home care, reducing hospital readmissions and improving chronic disease management.
Douglas highlights the potential of AI to streamline clinical workflows and reduce cognitive burden for healthcare providers: “By leveraging predictive AI, we can bring patients requiring attention to the forefront earlier than traditional methods, enabling faster and more precise interventions.”
Final Thoughts
Centralized surveillance and virtual care are transforming how healthcare organizations manage complexity, improve patient safety, and address workforce challenges. By focusing on clinical transformation and leveraging emerging technologies, these systems provide a roadmap for more effective, patient-centered care.
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