TY - JOUR T1 - The digital patient JF - Clinical Medicine JO - Clin Med SP - 252 LP - 257 DO - 10.7861/clinmedicine.13-3-252 VL - 13 IS - 3 AU - Timothy Bonnici AU - Lionel Tarassenko AU - David A Clifton AU - Peter Watkinson Y1 - 2013/06/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/13/3/252.abstract N2 - Despite efforts, the detection of patients who are deteriorating in hospital is often later than it should be. Several technologies could provide the basis of a solution. Recording of vital signs could be improved by both automated transmission of the measured parameters to an electronic patient record and the use of unobtrusive wearable monitors that track the patient’s physiology continuously. Electronic charting systems could make the recorded vital signs readily available for further processing. Software algorithms could identify such patients with greater sensitivity and specificity than the existing, paper-based track-and-trigger systems. Electronic storage of vital signs also makes intelligent alerting and remote patient surveillance possible. However, the potential of these technologies depends strongly on implementation, with poor-quality deployment likely to worsen patient care. ER -