Sahyadri Hospitals, a private healthcare provider in India, recently powered non-ICU wards using artificial intelligence.
Founded in 1996, the group claims to be the largest hospital chain in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, running 13 hospitals with over a thousand beds.
The problem
For many years, it relied on traditional patient monitoring systems and regular manual checks performed by skilled nursing teams and doctors.
“However, this approach had its limitations, including reliance on regular check-ups and potential delay in identifying early signs of deterioration, particularly in settings outside the ICU,” admitted Dr Kapil Burawaki, director of critical care at Sahyadri Hospitals.
In an interview with Healthcare IT NewsDr. Borauki pointed to these as the main challenges in patient safety: early detection of deteriorating patient condition, improved response times, and reduced physician workload.
solution
“The lack of continuous monitoring in non-ICU wards means a reactive rather than proactive approach to patient safety,” Dr Burawacki said.
Realizing this gap, Sahyadri thought of setting up an AI center, in collaboration with medical device company Dozi.
“The AI-powered command center was launched to overcome these gaps, enabling continuous real-time monitoring and providing early warning alerts to healthcare teams. This initiative aims to shift from a reactive care model to a predictive and preventative model, significantly enhancing patient safety and outcomes.” Clinical.”
Face the challenge
Dr. Burawaki said the proof of concept using Dozee has shown positive results.
“The AI-powered early warning system has shown remarkable capacity for this Expect the patient to deteriorate for up to 16 hours advanceThis gives doctors critical time to intervene. This resulted in a significant reduction in adverse events and improved physician workloads by streamlining monitoring processes.”
Dr. Kapil Burawaki, Director, Critical Care, Sahyadri Hospitals
“In addition, operational efficiency has improved, resulting in cost savings while maintaining high standards of patient care.”
results
Currently, the non-ICU wards in Hadapsar and Deccan branches of Sahyadri are fully equipped with artificial intelligence. It includes AI-based ECG for non-contact monitoring of vital parameters such as heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, SPO2 levels, temperature, ECG, and an early warning system that tracks vital trends and provides alerts on early clinical deterioration.
On the clinical side, Sahyadri aims to achieve the following goals: reducing mortality rates, ensuring timely interventions, and improving patient recovery outcomes.
“We are also aiming to reduce the number of code blue incidents in settings outside of intensive care units,” Dr Burawacki added.
On the operational side, the hospital is looking to enhance resource utilization, reduce physician workload, and promote seamless communication between care teams.
Sahyadri is expected to expand the AI-powered command center across all its 13 branches “in the coming months”.
“Patient safety is at the core of our operations. With this initiative, we are shifting from a reactive model to a predictive and preventive model… In today’s evolving healthcare landscape, integrating AI into clinical practice is essential to meet high standards of care and patients now expect that.
