A Novel Vital Sign Monitor Which Can Save Lives - Proceedings of All India Seminar on Biomedical Engineering 2012 (AISOBE-2012) - page 48

Fig. 2 Workflow design of the proposed vital sign monitor

deterioration. Not only this, NEWS guides the hospital staff regarding appropriate
steps for patient care. As with recording of variables (clinical signs) calculation of
NEWS is not done on regular basis due to multiple logistic factors.
From the above discussion, it appears that there are two road blocks in regular
usage of NEWS:

1. Accurate acquisition of physical signs.
2. Calculation of NEWS.

To overcome these road blocks and to facilitate widespread implementation of
NEWS, a unique vital sign monitor is proposed. This monitor will record the
variables of NEWS, i.e., Heart Rate, Respiratory Rate, Blood Pressure, Body
Temperature, and %SPO 2 . Consciousness status can be entered manually. We do
not foresee any technical or financial barrier as cheap and widely available tech-
nology already exists for recording of these clinical signs. After recording, clinical
sign data will be calculated by a microcomputer which can generate—NEWS,
sepsis score and pneumonia, and asthma severity. All these interpretations con-
stitute important and frequent inputs for clinical decision making.
If we use existing technology then acquisition of data and interpretation will
take 2-3 min per patient with the proposed monitor. This will greatly reduce the
time required for patient assessment.
This monitor can play a life-saving role for the prehospital environment, i.e.,
hospital emergency room, general practice, and as a household health care device.
Manual entry of variables like age, family history of heart problem, presence of