ABSTRACT
Various vendor products can capture all vital signs; some also capture cardiac rhythm, patient activity and movement, or data from indwelling devices. The nurse or physician must review the data either on device screen or in the electronic health records (EHR), and accept, decline, or edit the information before it becomes part of the final record. A community hospital was using data capture technology to pull vital sign data into its EHR. Analysts, nurses, and physicians knew that the two products analyzed trend data differently. In one case, the product reported the geometrical mean data of the recorded values over a designated interval, while the other transmitted to the data capture interface the most recent values within the 30?s prior to transmission. The community hospital personnel reassured the larger system, which allowed continuation of data capture from both devices into the EHR despite the differences between the various units.
