Continuous monitoring of vital signs with the Everion biosensor on the surgical ward: a clinical validation study

1

ABSTRACT

Background

Wearable sensors enable continuous vital sign monitoring, although information about their performance on nursing wards is scarce. Vital signs measured by telemonitoring and nurse measurements on a surgical ward were compared to assess validity and reliability.

Methods

In a prospective observational study, surgical patients wore a wearable sensor (Everion, Biovotion AG, Zürich, Switzerland) that continuously measured heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), oxygen saturation (SpO₂), and temperature during their admittance on the ward. Validity was evaluated using repeated-measures correlation and reliability using Bland-Altman plots, mean difference, and 95% limits of agreement (LoA).

Results

Validity analyses of 19 patients (median age, 68; interquartile range, 62.5–72.5 years) showed a moderate relationship between telemonitoring and nurse measurements for HR (r = 0.53; 95% confidence interval, 0.44–0.61) and a poor relationship for RR, SpO₂, and temperature. Reliability analyses showed that Everion measured HR close to nurse measurements (mean difference, 1 bpm; LoA, −16.7 to 18.7 bpm). Everion overestimated RR at higher values, whereas SpO₂ and temperature were underestimated.

Conclusions

A moderate relationship was determined between Everion and nurse measurements at a surgical ward in this study. Validity and reliability of telemonitoring should also be assessed with gold standard devices in future clinical trials.

KEYWORDS:

• Telemonitoring
• clinical validation
• vital signs
• wearable sensor
• surgical ward

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

M Haveman, R van Melzen, R Schuurmann, H Hermens, M Tabak and JP de Vries were involved in conception and design of this study, M Haveman and R van Melzen in data collection, and M Haveman, R van Melzen, M El Moumni, M Tabak and J de Vries in data analysis and interpretation. M Haveman and R van Melzen drafted the paper, and M Tabak and J de Vries critically revised the paper and approved the published version. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.