Avatar-based versus conventional patient monitoring with distant vision: a computer-based simulation study

Patient monitoring in the perioperative setting can be challenging, especially when monitoring multiple patients simultaneously or managing dynamic situations that require movement around the operating room. We aimed to evaluate whether avatar-based patient monitoring, which presents vital signs in the form of changing colors, shapes and motion, improves remote vital sign recognition compared to conventional monitoring. We conducted a prospective, single-center, computer-based simulation study to evaluate how anesthesia providers recognize vital signs when using the Philips Visual Patient Avatar at different viewing distances (8 and 16 m) compared to conventional monitoring. The primary outcome was the total number of correctly identified vital signs which were compared for the two distances and the two devices using mixed Poisson regression. We analyzed data from 28 anesthesia providers who participated in 112 simulations. The correct recognition rate using the Visual Patient Avatar compared to conventional monitoring at 8 m was increased by 74% (rate ratio 1.74, 95% CI, 1.42 to 2.14, p < 0.001) and by 51% at 16-meter viewing distance (rate ratio 1.51, 95% CI, 1.23 to 1.87, p < 0.001). We observed scenario-specific superior performance for six vital signs at 8 m. The results provide empirical evidence that avatar-based monitoring can significantly improve the perception of vital signs when using distant vision.