Nurses have saved almost 800 lives in just one year by using iPads, iPods and mobile phones to record patients' vital (至关重要的) signs instead of paper charts.
Death rates at two major hospitals dropped by more than 15% after the nursing stall started using hand-held devices instead of paper notes to monitor (监督) the condition of patients, according to the research published recently.
Nurses recorded patients' blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels and other indicators on tablets and mobiles. Specialist software, called VitalPAC, automatically told them if the patient was deteriorating. If this is happened the nurse was warned to increase the frequency of their monitoring of the patient and, in some cases, to warn a doctor or a response team.
The introduction of the new system led to a fall of almost 400 patient deaths in just 12 months at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, and a drop of more than 370 in the same period at University Hospital, Coventry, according to the study in BMJ Quality & Safety. An editorial in the journal described the research as "an important milestone" in improving patient safety and said the lowering of mortality (死亡率) at these two hospitals "represents a truly dramatic improvement".
Data recorded on the hand-held devices is automatically uploaded to a hospital-wide system allowing nurses, doctors and managers to monitor the health of patients across all wards. Staff on ward rounds have instant access to information from any device connected to the hospital network.
The system is now installed in 40 hospitals across England and could eventually be rolled out across the whole of the NHS. The system was developed by doctors and nurses at Portsmouth working together with health improvement company The Learning Clinic.
Dr. Paul Schmidt, of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the leaders of the project, said: "Observing patients and making accurate records provides a safety net to guard against their deterioration. We believed traditional paper charts were not doing the job well enough so we designed an electronic system to support staff. This study shows its introduction was followed by a significant drop in deaths."
【小题1】What can be learned about VitalPAC?| A．It was designed by The Learning Clinic independently. |
| B．It works with the hand-held devices. |
| C．It can replace the nurses to take care of patients. |
| D．It was applied by all the members of the NHS. |
| A．the specialist software is out of order. |
| B．the patient's condition is getting worse. |
| C．the patient's vital signs are uploaded. |
| D．the patient's indicators are difficult to record. |
| A．The significance of VitalPAC. | B．The improvement of Vita1PAC. |
| C．The rules of operating VitalPAC. | D．The brief introduction of VitalPAC. |
| A．A fashion magazine. | B．A story book. |
| C．A news report. | D．A science fiction. |
