Bernoulli Health Chief Nursing Informatics Officer Publishes Study on Key Attributes of Continuous Clinical Surveillance

Technology, workflow and patient safety standards have made continuous clinical surveillance distinct from patient monitoring

Milford, CT—February 12, 2019—A new study published in HIMSS’ peer-reviewed Online Journal of Nursing Informatics concludes that continuous clinical surveillance possesses seven simultaneous attributes that make it distinct, in both theory and practice, from patient monitoring.

In defining the concept of clinical surveillance, while demonstrating use-models in practice, the paper’s author, Mary Jahrsdoerfer, Ph.D, RN, Chief Nursing Informatics Officer of Bernoulli Health, suggests that operationalizing clinical surveillance within a hospital or health system, aligning it with clinical practice and system functionality and applying it to a safer and more proactive patient environment begins with “clarity of meaning.”

Dr. Jahrsdoerfer argues that continuous clinical surveillance is driven concurrently by seven defining attributes or characteristics that proactively drive early interventions to adverse patient events: Attention, timeliness, recognition, intuition, analysis, action and collaboration.

Patient monitoring may possess one or more of these attributes, clinical surveillance requires all seven.

“The core of continuous clinical surveillance is ‘real-time’ attention, recognition and analysis that allows for action and collaboration. It is a paradigm shift from a retrospective clinical response, to a prospective anticipation and planning,” Dr. Jahrsdoerfer said.

Continuous clinical surveillance enables the real-time acquisition, analysis and distribution of essential patient data from multiple sources for ongoing, comprehensive and prospective clinical decision-making and intervention.

In contrast, patient monitoring, which include vital sign spot-checks and notifications sent from individual physiologic devices, is often fragmented, episodic and reactive—putting patients at risk for a sentinel event or emergency intervention.

A recent KLAS report notes that “clinical surveillance tools hold the promise of giving caregivers clinically actionable insights that decrease mortality, reduce readmissions, and improve overall patient outcomes, and clinicians expect these alerts to be embedded directly within their workflow.”

“The technology, clinical workflow and protocols applied to patient safety measures in health systems have evolved to the point where ‘patient monitoring’ and ‘continuous clinical surveillance’ have become wholly separate capabilities,” said Janet Dillione, CEO of Bernoulli Health. “Fortunately, advances in continuous clinical surveillance technology and distribution have made a more holistic and proactive patient safety environment an achievable reality.”

Continuous Clinical Surveillance at HIMSS

Bernoulli Health will showcase the tangible patient safety benefits of prospective continuous clinical surveillance in general education and the Exhibit Hall demonstrations at the 2019 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition, Feb. 11-15, in Orlando.

• On Thursday, Feb. 14, Leah Baron, MD, former Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mt. Holly, NJ, and John Zaleski, PhD, CAP, CPHIMS, Chief Analytics Officer of Bernoulli Health will present A Business Case & Clinical Case for Continuous Surveillance.
• Bernoulli also will be present in several partner booths in the Exhibit Hall, showcasing Bernoulli One™. Details on Bernoulli’s presence at HIMSS19 can be found here.
• To schedule a meeting with a Bernoulli representative at HIMSS19, click here.