Hospital installs ‘patient safety net’

Madison Memorial Hospital recently installed brand-new monitoring systems at all of its beds, creating what it calls a patient safety net.

The monitoring systems can detect things such as oxygen levels and heart rates and the data is automatically sent to a computer at the nurses’ station.

Should they reach dangerous levels, an alarm sounds and hospital staff is immediately notified.

“It’s our goal that we don’t have any hypoxic events,” said Dr. Alan Brower, director of emergency services at the hospital. “I believe that this will catch events early, and so catch problems before they become serious.”