This article explains how to use the sleep history in health.somnofy.com for long-term patient monitoring
The history gives a comprehensive overview of the patient's sleep quality and vital parameters making it easy to compare over a long period and pick up on changes for an individual.
The Vitalthings Somnofy SM-100 is not a medically certified device and is, therefore, not capable of diagnosing patients. Its main function is to record data, which can be useful for healthcare professionals to combine with their medical expertise.
Examples of what to look out for:
Increased respiration rate
Increased respiration rate can be an early indicator of potential health issues*. If you observe an increase in respiration rate, the following conditions or situations could be occurring in your patient:
- UTI
- COVID
- Metabolic disorders, for example, low blood sugar
- Serious infections
- Exacerbation of COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
- Cardiac arrest
We recommend doing appropriate testing and increasing care for this patient
* Cretikos, M.A., et al., Respiratory rate: the neglected vital sign. Med J Aust, 2008. 188(11): p. 657-9.
Increased movement
Sometimes, a patient will have increased movement during sleep over a period of time. This could be happening due to for example:
- Increased anxiety
- Increased pain (muscular pain, broken bones, etc)
We recommend doing appropriate testing and increasing care for this patient
Increased out of bed
Another parameter that can be interesting to monitor is the number of times a patient leaves their bed during the night. If this suddenly increases, it can be a sign of for example:
- UTI, especially if the respiration frequency also has increased
- Increased anxiety or restlessness
We recommend doing appropriate testing and increasing care for this patient
Long term patient monitoring with Somnofy enables the healthcare professional to direct their attention to only the patients who exhibit an abnormal individual variation from their long-term trends. It is paramount to note that any change noted by Somnofy does not guarantee a serious medical condition but is only a warning sign to look for to allocate resources effectively.