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Study: Finnish health technology innovation has the potential to save millions of euros - frees up nursing time and reduces material costs

Study: Finnish health technology innovation has the potential to save millions of euros - frees up nursing time and reduces material costs

The remote monitoring service for infusion therapy, developed by Oulu-based Monidor, can generate benefits up to 12 million euros a year in the Finnish healthcare sector. The health economics study published in March 2022 shows that the rationalisation of infusion therapy can enable turning small streams into significant benefits.

Intravenous infusion therapy, i.e. IV therapy, is a very common form of treatment. The volumes are huge: every year, intravenous infusion therapy is administered to patients roughly 5 million times at hospitals and health center wards in Finland.

“Infusion therapy is a good example of the kind of nursing work whose efficiency should be enhanced through investments on a national level. Even a minor optimisation produces significant benefits in the case of such a typical treatment, when the effect is multiplied,” says Monidor’s Chief Medical Officer Antti Puolitaival.

A real-time view of the state of infusion therapies enhances patient safety

Infusion therapy, which is part of the everyday life at hospitals, is a challenging form of treatment. Disturbances and inaccuracies in the infusion therapy can have serious, even life-threatening, consequences to the patient. In busy nursing work, where the shortage of staff is common, the end of infusion can, for example, go unnoticed.

In the overall Monidor solution, the Monidrop infusion monitor that is installed on the drip chamber clearly shows the speed of the infusion and how much infusion liquid has been administered.

The remote monitoring of the Monidrop devices that are used at wards gives the staff a view of all ongoing infusion therapies, which enhances patient safety.

“Remote monitoring detects if the infusion is about to end or the cannula is about to be occluded, i.e., the speed of infusion is slowing down. Thanks to the real-time situational picture, no routine visits are needed to patient rooms,” says Monidor’s CEO Mikko Savola.

Therefore, Monidor eases the workload of the nurses and allows them to concentrate on more important nursing work.

Small streams can generate millions of euros of savings on a national scale

In addition to freeing up nurse time, Monidor’s solution also enables consumables to be saved in many ways. When isolation rooms do not need to be visited unnecessarily, roughly five euros is saved every time in protective gear. Similarly, each cannula that does not need to be replaced saves a few euros, and so on.

“Fewer single use equipment and accessories are needed, which saves both money and the environment,” Savola says.

Based on the recently published health economic evaluation, ESiOR - a company specialising in health economic research - Monidor solution can produce benefits exceeding 1,200 euros a month in a typical ward of roughly 30 beds. Roughly half of this was due to freed up nursing time and half to material savings. In Finland, the value freed up if the remote monitoring solution of Monidor’s infusion therapy was extensively used could be up to roughly 12 million euros a year.

“Healthtech innovations similar to Monidor can have a genuine impact on nursing work, as well as patient and work satisfaction,” says Erkki Soini from ESiOR that specialises in health economic research.

This is the first survey that examined the economic impacts of the remote monitoring of intravenous infusion therapy in a genuine treatment environment. A total of 15 wards from six hospitals throughout Finland participated in the survey.

Source: Advantages in Management and Remote Monitoring of Intravenous Therapy: Exploratory Survey and Economic Evaluation of Gravity-Based Infusions in Finland.

A link to the study: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12325-022-02093-6

Additional information:

Mikko Savola, CEO, Monidor
358 50 378 8890
mikko.savola@monidor.com

Antti Puolitaival, Chief Medical Officer, Monidor
+358 400 428 588
antti.puolitaival@monidor.com

Erkki Soini
CEO, Managing Partner, ESiOR
+358 40 053 3971
erkki.soini@esior.fi

Monidor
Monidor is a Finnish health technology company that was founded in 2015. The company specialises in the development of easy-to-use and innovative software and equipment for the digital healthcare sector. The company has developed the IV Screen remote monitoring application and the Monidor infusion meter to reduce the workload of the nurses and to enhance patient safety during intravenous therapy. Monidor’s activities are based on customer-orientation and effectiveness. The strengths of the company include experience and expertise, both in nursing at hospitals and diversely in various areas of technology. Monidor complies with the ISO13485 standard.