Protocol for a systematic review assessing ambulatory vital sign monitoring impact on deterioration detection and related clinical outcomes in hospitalised patients

INTRODUCTION: Ambulatory monitoring systems (AMS) can facilitate early detection of clinical deterioration, and have the potential to improve hospitalised patient outcomes. The objective of this systematic review is to assess the impact of vital signs monitoring on detection of deterioration and related outcomes in hospitalised patients using AMS, in comparison with standard care. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A systematic search was conducted on 27 August 2020 in MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CENTRAL and Health Technology Assessment databases, as well as grey literature. Search results will be reviewed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis checklist for systematic reviews. Studies comparing the use of ambulatory monitoring devices against standard care for deterioration detection and related clinical outcomes in hospitalised patients will be included and further clinical and other outcomes will also be explored. Deterioration-related outcomes may include (but not limited to) unplanned intensive care admissions, rapid response team activation and unscheduled emergency interventions, as defined by the included studies. Two reviewers will independently extract study data and assess the quality and risk of bias of included studies. Where possible, a meta-analysis will be conducted and quantitative results presented. Alternatively, a narrative synthesis will be reported. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is not required for this study as no primary data will be collected. This study is part of our virtual High Dependency Unit project and will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, public and scientific conference presentations. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020188633.