Application Value of Vital Signs Telemetry System for 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease Suspected Cases in Isolation Wards

OBJECTIVE: A large number of isolation wards were built to screen suspected patients because of the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The particularity of the isolation wards would lead to more medical resource consumption and heavier hospital control tasks. Therefore, we adopted a vital signs telemetry system in the isolation wards to improve this situation. MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES: Twenty sets of vital signs telemetry system were installed in the east district of the isolation area and the wards were used as the telemetry system wards (TSWs). The wards in the west district were used as the routine wards (RW). The daily telephone questionnaire was used to collect the frequency and time of ward rounds by medical staff and lasted for one week. RESULTS: Within one-week survey, the average frequency of RW rounds was 3.00 ± 1.00 times per day, and the average time was 93.57 ± 66.25 min. The daily frequency of RW rounds was 0.428 ± 0.394 times per capita, and the time was 7.88 ± 2.36 min. There was a statistically significant difference in the time of ward rounds per capita, which presented that the daily time of TSW rounds per capita was shorter than that of RW rounds. No security events related to telemetry equipment were found throughout the study. CONCLUSION: The application of vital signs telemetry system as an alternative to traditional ward monitoring is considered feasible. The use of telemetry system can significantly reduce the consumption of medical resources, the workload of medical staff along with the administration and labor cost for isolation wards. The telemetry system provides sensitive and reliable real-time monitoring for the key indicators used for disease judgment and can make an accurate warning of the patients with disease aggravation in time. Thus, it is worthy of promotion and wide application.