Data from EarlySense contact-free monitor clinical study presented at ATS conference

May 22 2012

EarlySense, a market leader in proactive patient care solutions, announced today the results of a clinical study conducted at a Dignity Health Hospital. The data was presented today in a poster presentation titled: Effect Of Contactless Continuous Patient Monitoring In A Medical-Surgical Unit On Intensive Care Unit Transfers: A Controlled Clinical Trial at the ATS International Conference in San Francisco by Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, a lead researcher from the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.    

The objective of the study was to determine the effects of continuous patient monitoring, using the EarlySense contact-free monitor, on the length of stay in a medical-surgical unit, ICU transfers and ICU length of stay for patients initially admitted to non-ICU units. The study was conducted in a 316 bed acute care hospital as a pre-post evaluation study. The EarlySense system was positioned in a 33-bed medical-surgical unit including bed side monitors, a central nursing station display and integration with the mobile phones of the nurses. Just over 7,600 patient charts, 2,314 in the intervention arm and the rest from three separate control arms were reviewed.

Comparing the intervention unit to the control unit, which did not go through with the intervention, outcome results showed a reduction in the average stay in the ICU of just over 2 days (a 45.9% reduction) comparing the pre-intervention to the post-intervention, with a trend of a decline in the number of transfers. This resulted in a 47.2% decrease in the rate of total ICU days for transfers between the pre-intervention and the post-interventions periods. Furthermore, length of stay of patients in the medical-surgical units was also reduced substantially following the intervention by a mean of 0.4 days, a reduction of almost 10%.

Dr. Zimlichman said, "This large clinical study clearly showed that there was a substantial improvement in key outcome indicators. We believe, given the distinct trends resulting from the presence of the EarlySense system, that clinicians using the system respond to deterioration earlier and thus reduce the overall utilization of the ICU and the length of stay of patients on the medical-surgical floor."

"At Dignity Health, we see the importance of partnering with young, innovative companies as they develop new technologies that support our goal of improving quality and creating new efficiencies that reduce the cost of care. This often requires leading by example and supporting efforts that study how novel mobile technologies help realize these goals. We are pleased to be part of the team developing this new approach to patient monitoring and are encouraged with the results of this study and the impact on patient safety. Acceptance at such a highly prestigious conference as ATS is clear evidence of its potential," said Barbara Pelletreau, RN, MPH and Senior Vice President, Patient Safety at Dignity Health.

"Breakthrough technologies, such as contact-free patient monitoring systems, not only provide a definite set of clinical and financial benefits but also enable the establishment of new and elevated standards of care which help our medical systems to keep patients in lower acuity environments in a safe and efficient way," said Dr. David Bates, Chief Quality Officer and Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Executive Director of the Center of Patient Safety Research and Practice.

Dr. Harvey Brown, Clinical Professor of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and a principal investigator of the EarlySense clinical study, said, "After seeing the EarlySense system used on thousands of patients, we were not surprised by the results. We have seen a large number of cases in which clinical teams used alerts by the system to provide more rapid and effective intervention. These documented team 'saves' included cases of respiratory depression, sepsis, arrhythmias and gastrointestinal bleeding. Furthermore, the EarlySense 33-bed unit provided our medical staff with an alternative to Telemetry for those patients who did not require continuous EKG monitoring, but were at risk because of advanced age, comorbidities, trauma, recent ICU stays or non-elective surgery. This helped reduce the demand for Telemetry beds and provided continuous heart rate and respiratory rate, as well as motion monitoring and turn alerts that helped the nursing teams prevent falls and pressure ulcers. All of this enabled higher quality, safer and more efficient patient care."

The EarlySense system provides early detection of patient deterioration by continuously monitoring heart rate, respiratory rate and motion - without ever touching the patient. Clinicians using the system can proactively respond to the earliest indications of patient deterioration or safety risk to prevent adverse events and ICU escalations.

"As the EarlySense system is on call 24/7 and alerts when changes in a patient's parameters are detected, it is a tool for medical teams to proactively respond to early warning signs. Early detection and intervention is clinically proven to increase effectiveness, reduce cost of care and avoid preventable deteriorations and never events which may lead to ICU escalation. ICU beds are several times more costly than general floor beds. By helping medical teams to avert such situations, not only does quality of patient care improve, but hospitals are also able to save unnecessary costs," said Avner Halperin, CEO of EarlySense.

Mr. Halperin continued, "We are very proud to have conducted this landmark study with Dignity Health and with the active academic support of the Harvard affiliated Center of Patient Safety Research and Practice. We are also quite pleased that the data will be presented at ATS. This marks the first time that clinical results, relating to length of stay and improvement in the number of ICU transfers while utilizing the EarlySense system, are to be presented at a major scientific conference."