A surveillance monitoring system for vital health signs, in the form of an app and wearable device
With over 1 million hours of conducted vital sign monitoring, ViSi Mobile Insight provides clinicians with the ability to detect early signs of health deterioration in almost any care setting. By enabling early intervention and rapid response, patient experience is both safer, and more comfortable.
The Client
Sotera Wireless, Inc. is a San Diego-based health technology company dedicated to detecting early signs of patient deterioration in any acute care setting. Their team includes both leaders in patient monitoring technology and real clinicians, who understand the challenges of introducing technology and change in practice to hospitals.
UI/UX Design
When a patient’s life is potentially on the line, interactions between software and practitioners has to be immediate and hassle-free. Our experience in designing mHealth and MIoT technology allowed us to create a streamlined, obstacle-free product for doctors and nurses.
“Our primary goal was always an optimal user experience. The resulting product is clean, simple and easy to use."
iOS and Android Mobile Apps
Via a hospital’s wireless infrastructure, vital sign measurements recorded with the device are streamed where needed. Complete data is captured on the serverside while also being relayed to relevant remote viewing stations throughout the facility. Staff can use these stations to monitor all of their respective patients, receive alarms, and view trends in data.
We utilized agile product development and met with the ViSi team on a daily basis. This allowed us to respond quickly to often rapidly changing requirements and priorities.
“The work was excellent. The resulting software is very stable and free from defects.”
The IoT Element
The custom IoT device, worn on a patient’s hand, is a key part to this product. Constantly monitoring and reporting vital signs, the 4-ounce ICU-grade system measures a number of core parameters, including:
- Oxygen saturation
- Pulse, respiratory and Heart rates
- Skin temperature
- Blood pressure
iOS and Android devices connect to the wearable to provide timely alerts to doctors and nurses.
Software Engineering
The software elements of ViSi are composed of UI, UX, Android, iOS and backend development. The application includes complex alarming logic, as well as sophisticated user interface requirements. Alongside one of Sotera’s product managers, we worked for 18 months within a small, agile team. Any changes in priority and needs were responded to quickly, with a backlog created based upon evolving market needs. This backlog consisted of user stories and acceptance criteria.
During each daily meeting, all team members reported on status, while any new user stories were discussed and analyzed, then estimated.
Quality Assurance
Thorough testing was performed, utilizing the gathered acceptance criteria as defined by the aforementioned user stories. Any failed acceptance criteria were marked as defects, then prioritized accordingly. These criteria stated only “what“ should be possible, with the “how“ being handled via the combined team.
Software Engineering
Together, Reinvently and Sotera created a complete product that enables hospital staff to easily monitor the vital signs of their patients. Philip Trewhella, Vice President Systems Software Development and Interoperability at Sotera Wireless, inc., said this about the cooperation:
“The work was excellent. The resulting software is very stable and free from defects. They integrated seamlessly into our product development process, were very flexible and responsive and were genuinely interested in the success of the product. I would very highly recommend them and if the opportunity presents itself in the future, I would utilize them again without hesitation. Sotera could not have chosen a better partner.”