Feasibility And Efficacy Of Continuous In-Hospital Patient Monitoring

Overview

The investigators plan to study patients who have had cardiac surgery. Current standard practice is to monitor patients who have had cardiac surgery using wall-mounted monitors whilst they are on the Overnight Intensive Recovery (OIR) and the cardiac High Dependency Unit (HDU). The wall-mounted monitors monitor the vital signs continuously and alert the nurses if any abnormalities are detected. Once a patient is transferred from HDU to the cardiac surgery ward for the most part they are no longer connected to a continuous monitor. Instead, the majority of patients on the ward have their vital signs only intermittently checked during the day, using a "spot check monitor". There is a small minority, chosen on clinical grounds, who are assessed with wireless "telemetry" monitors for a day or two. In this study the investigators will continuously monitor the vital signs of all enrolled patients from the time that they leave the operating theatre to the the time they are discharged from hospital. Whilst they are on OIR and HDU they will be monitored with the standard wall-mounted monitors in the normal fashion. When they then move to the ward the investigators will give all enrolled patients a telemetry monitor to wear as well as asking the nurses to check their vital signs with spot check monitors. The investigators will also collect information about the patients' general state of health and record indicators of worsening in patients' condition so that the investigators can determine how changes in the vital signs relate to deterioration. Finally the investigators plan to survey the patients and nurses to understand their experiences of continuous monitoring and what needs to be changed to improve the patient experience.