Waking Up Patients to Check Vital Signs

A real-time prediction tool helps identify patients who can forgo nighttime vital sign monitoring.

Ambient noise, nighttime procedures, shared rooms, unfamiliar environments, early morning phlebotomy, and frequent vital sign measurements lower the quality of sleep for hospitalized patients. In this single-center U.S. trial, 1930 inpatient admissions on a general medicine service were randomized to show or not show a clinical decision support tool in the electronic record that determined the patient's likelihood of having normal nighttime vital signs, using real-time patient data. When the tool was displayed, clinicians could discontinue nighttime vital sign measurement or dismiss notifications for 1 hour or for 1 night.

The tool correctly predicted normal nighttime vital signs 84% of the time and abnormal vital signs 70% of the time. Alth…

Reviewing Author

Andrew S. Parsons, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardNEJM Healer Advisory Group; Aquifer Clinical Excellence; NBME Clinical Reasoning

Grant/Research SupportSouthern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA)

Editorial BoardsDiagnosis

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesUndergraduate Medical Education (UME) Section Chair, Southern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA); Chair of Early Career Physicians, American College of Physicians (ACP), Virginia Chapter

Andrew S. Parsons, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardNEJM Healer Advisory Group; Aquifer Clinical Excellence; NBME Clinical Reasoning

Grant/Research SupportSouthern Group on Educational Affairs (SGEA)

Editorial BoardsDiagnosis

Waking Up Patients to Check Vital Signs

Topics

Reviewing Author