One of the largest paediatric hospitals in the UK, Leeds Children’s Hospital recently installed the multi-award-winning Bedside Equipment Alarm Monitoring System (BEAMS) on one of its wards, to enhance patient safety in a timely manner and improve nursing efficiency and conditions.
And the system has reduced the number of alarms taking more than five minutes to respond to by 57%, more than 30 minutes by 100%, and average response by 43% to one minute and 42 seconds.
Patient safety and better working conditions for nurses are vital, especially at a time of nurse shortages and increased alarm fatigue and we are proud to be making a difference
BEAMS is a monitoring system developed for, and with, Sheffield Children’s Hospital by Tutum Medical to significantly improve response times for critical bedside alarms and is the only acoustic solution which listens for medical device alarms and notifies staff of the source, device, and type of alarm.
This allows staff to prioritise the most-critical alarms, which supports improved patient outcomes, better workflow for nurses, and reduced costs for hospitals.
Patient safety
Jenni France, ward manager at Leeds Children’s Hospital, said: “We had heard from other children’s hospitals how this simple and easy system was significantly improving response times to critical equipment alarms, and we saw great results from a trial on Ward L30.
“Patient safety and reassurance for nursing staff markedly improved and we know immediately which patient’s device has raised an alarm and the urgency of the alarm so we can prioritise responses in seconds.
“A quiet and calm children’s ward, who would have thought?”
Paul Rawlinson, managing director of Tutum Medical, added: “We are delighted Leeds Children’s Hospital has installed BEAMS and are seeing significant improvements in response times to alarms.
Patient safety and reassurance for nursing staff markedly improved and we know immediately which patient’s device has raised an alarm and the urgency of the alarm so we can prioritise responses in seconds
“Patient safety and better working conditions for nurses are vital, especially at a time of nurse shortages and increased alarm fatigue and we are proud to be making a difference, not just at Leeds Children’s Hospital, but on wards across the country with our unique system.”
Assurance and support
BEAMS is designed to send the notification via Wi-Fi to a nurse console display located at the nurse station, and to speakers
along the corridors, which give a spoken notification.
And it creates its own Wi-Fi mesh network, which removes the need to interface to hospital infrastructure.
Laura-Clare Whelan, deputy head of nursing at Leeds Children’s Hospital, said: “BEAMS gives us the assurance and support for both the nursing staff and families that their care and safety is a priority to us.
“Patients and parents will know that if an alarm is sounding their nurse will respond, particularly when they do not feel able to call the nurse themselves.”
The system is now being trialled on other wards at the hospital as well as other hospitals across the country.
