BALTIMORE, Md. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Most patients who undergo joint replacement surgery need physical therapy to recover, a process that takes patients away from their bedside health monitors; but a new device is making it possible to safely monitor patients back to health.
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Kelly Kirkbride considers it a miracle she’s back on the job as an attorney.
"It was the standing, the stairs, just even walking from my car to the building was impossible," Kirkbride told Ivanhoe.
For years, her knees hurt so badly she could barely function; the only remedy -- total knee replacement. Aging baby boomers like Kirkbride are putting joint replacement surgery on the rise.
Physical therapy helps get patients back on their feet sooner; but some exercise is risky for weak patients, and therapy units don’t have monitors to warn staff of complications.
"In a unit where we’re treating elderly patients, they’re a little more frail; so the question arises as to how much can we let them do, how soon," Vincent Pellegrini, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon at University of Maryland Medical Center, told Ivanhoe.
Now, a new wireless monitoring system allows hospital staff to check vital signs of on-the-move patients in hallways, private rooms or therapy units.
"It allows us to the get folks up and around as we typically do, but with an added margin of safety to know how their heart and lungs are responding to the exercise," Dr. Pellegrini said.
Patients carry around a small transmitter linked to a blood pressure cuff and pulse meter. Wireless signals carry vital-sign data to screens throughout the unit. An alarm alerts staff of irregular breathing, heart beat or pulse, and erratic blood pressure. The system will help define exercise guidelines for physical therapy units, while keeping a watchful eye on patients.
The number of joint replacement cases, especially for knee and hip replacements, is expected to increase dramatically in the next 25 years. Researchers hope to improve this technology to elevate the standard of care for all patients.
When patients leave their beds to undergo therapy, they also leave behind an important safeguard: their bedside monitor. A new technology is making it possible for nurses to monitor their patients wirelessly.
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