Vital signs measurement at the GP office

The patient’s path to treatment often starts at the GP. One of the first exams is the assessment of the general health status. This often includes the measurement of vital signs or vitals, which are a highly useful starting point for further examination. The parameters measured differ according to different countries; for example, in the UK, the NEWS2 (National Early Warning Score) is used at all levels of healthcare, comprising temperature, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, pulse (heart rate), respiratory rate and level of consciousness [1] [2].

Despite technological progress, the devices for measuring individual parameters are often separate and entry of the results into the patient files still manual, which contributes to time loss and potential transcription errors. The MESI mTABLET Vitals system addresses these issues by integrating all vital signs measurements into one device and automating data entry to enhance accuracy and efficiency.

In this blog you will learn:

• What are the challenges of vital signs measurement at the GP office?
• How to easily perform vital sign measurements at the GP office?

What are the challenges of vital signs measurement at the GP office?

Administrative workload

Extensive administration is connected with several different factors. The first one is complex insurance schemes, which not only burden the medical staff with a work overload, but also the entire healthcare system with additional costs [3] [4]. For the medical professional, this kind of work can take a significant psychological and physical toll, resulting in work dissatisfaction as well as burnout. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]. Since nurses often carry out most administrative work in addition to other assignments, this can lead to decreased quality of care [10] [11] [12]. The same goes for physicians and manifests as a decrease in patient satisfaction, medical errors, and an increase in malpractice claims [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]. Another reason for excessive administration is manual data entry – recording the measurements on a piece of paper and later copying them into the patient’s medical record.

Excessive administrative work can also directly or indirectly affect vital sign measurements. For example, some of them may be left out due to time constraints or performed too hastily, which leads to poor reliability. Vital signs entail quite a few measurements, and transcription errors can occur.

Data entry errors

During manual data entry, the physician often makes vital signs measurements by using separate diagnostic devices (a sphygmomanometer, a pulse oximeter, etc.) and writes the results down on a note. Later on, the nurse copies the data into the patient’s paper or electronic health record (EHR).

The effectiveness of this workflow was researched in a comprehensive study that compared the speed and data accuracy between various methods of vital sign data management. It found that transcribing vital signs data from a paper note into an EHR took the most time. Paper to paper (from a paper note to a paper medical record) was faster; the fastest method was directly entering measurements (by hand) into an EHR on a tablet fixed to a vital signs monitor [26]. The best option would be automated transfer of measurements from the monitor into the patient’s EHR. In this way, human errors can be avoided, along with sometimes fatal consequences [23] [24] [25].

Poor use of EHRs

EHRs can make a very positive difference to a GP office. Their use is connected with many benefits in comparison with paper records, including higher efficiency, a decrease in the number of medical errors, and improved data reliability and accessibility [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33]. EHR users are also less likely to have malpractice claims filed against them compared to those using paper records [34].

However, proper education and training of users of EHR systems is a must. The first reason is cybersecurity. It does not only concern EHRs, but also telemedicine solutions with wearable diagnostic devices. The latter are particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks [31] [32] [33] [35] [36].

The second reason is that inadequate EHR training can result in unsuccessful implementation, additional stress and user errors [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]. The success of EHR use also depends on the user-friendliness of the EHR system for nurses and physicians; this also goes for the convenience of storing important data such as vital sign measurements [43].

How to easily perform vital sign measurements at the GP office?

The MESI mTABLET Vitals is a comprehensive vital signs solution for GP offices, offering all the measuring tools on a single device. The measurements of blood pressure, oxygen saturation and temperature are automated; respiratory rate, pain and the level of consciousness can be entered manually with a slide rather than by typing. All the results are automatically saved into digital patient files, which reduces the administrative workload. If activated, the NEWS2 S1 early warning score is automatically calculated.

A major advantage of the MESI mTABLET Vitals system is its portability. All diagnostic tools, including the blood pressure cuff, the SpO2 sensor and thermometer, are wireless and compact, fitting neatly into a bag for home visits or onto a tabletop for clinic use.

The MESI mTABLET Vitals is part of the MESI mTABLET diagnostic system. This means that you can always expand it with other diagnostic tools, e.g. spirometry or the ECG. It also integrates with your current EHR systems, so that you can manage and store the measurements directly there.

MESI mTABLET Vitals helps provide efficient, high-quality care both at the GP office and home visits, enabling comprehensive patient assessments and smooth administration work.