AirStrip Patient Monitoring could mean no more bedside visits from doctors

A new kind of technology, which delivers important patient monitoring information directly to iPad and iPhone devices, could soon be coming to hospitals in the US, meaning doctors would no longer have to visit their patients to make important decisions about their healthcare. Although that may seem like a pretty informal and clinical way to deal with real people, it would provide doctors with more time to treat other patients too, which can only be a good thing, right?

The new AirStrip Patient Monitoring system, developed by GE Healthcare and AirStrip Technologies in America, allows doctors, nurses and any other medical professionals with an interest in a patient that’s in a critical condition, to interact with, manipulate and zoom in on more than 100 measurements and access all kinds of physiological data and monitoring waveforms from any iPad or iPhone device wherever they happen to be.

This obviously means doctors with hectic schedules are able to give people attention, even if they can’t physically get to their bedside, but it also means those at a different hospital or with specific needs can have their data sent to a professional working remotely who may be more knowledgable of their condition.

According to a recent study (outlined in the original press release from GE), medical professionals are early adopters when it comes to most kinds of wireless technology, with 75% of those in the US owning an iPhone or an iPad. That’s a fairly large number, so it makes sense that companies would want to take advantage of that and provide doctors with ways of using their devices even more in the workplace.

Thierry Leclercq, general manager at Life Care Solutions, GE Healthcare, said:

“As doctors increasingly use smartphones and tablets, GE Healthcare is committed to driving convergence between mobile technologies, biomedical devices and clinical information systems […] AirStrip Patient Monitoring combines GE Healthcare’s clinical innovations and AirStrip’s powerful mobile health technologies. Empowering doctors with highly interactive patient monitoring information, when and where it is needed, supports physician decision-making and ultimately, patient safety and care.”

Although our caring, sensitive sides are a little wary about the thought of even less bedside contact, if doctors can fit more patients into their day-to-day activities, then we’re all for even more remote access to these kinds of stats.