For those that have had to spend any amount of time in a hospital room, as a patient or a visitor, it is not hard to recall the amount of ambient noise that comes from the experience. Strange devices beep and ring and buzz throughout the duration of the stay and happen in tandem with seemingly random pop-ins from medical staff.

Hospitals aren’t very restful places, but there are growing numbers of vendors and solution providers that want to change that.

As part of a new set of IEEE service-oriented device connectivity (SDC) standards rooted in service-oriented architectures (SOAs), Philips is making the commitment to get behind interoperability amongst providers to help reduce the barriers to effective patient monitoring and data collection. Interoperability has plagued the Tech industry for a long time and can lead to a variety of critical errors and inefficiencies, particularly within an industry that can’t afford them: healthcare. Clinical errors or inefficiencies could cost lives.

According to a piece by Phillips, Building the silent ICU of the future: Phillips to demonstrate a collaborative approach to interoperability at #HIMMSS24, “SDC-enabled medical devices can radically change clinicians’ experiences, allowing them to see and act upon data derived from integrated acute care technologies – such as patient monitors, sensors, ventilators, and infusion pumps – regardless of manufacturer.”

Silent ICUs

Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are filled with vulnerable people who need healing rest. Unfortunately, many medical devices tend to offer a lot of disruption, particularly as many of them don’t work together to provide a unified stream of patient data. Last week, Philips demonstrated its Silent ICU technologies at the HIMMSS24 event in Orlando.

By leveraging smart technologies and devices, Philips is committed to collaborating with hospitals and health tech companies to assist clinicians in remotely managing alarms and third-party devices, along with Philips monitors.

“In a Silent ICU, SDC-enabled devices with bi-directional capabilities and an open ecosystem will change this dynamic. Clinicians will have access to patient information remotely, from a nursing station, central monitoring unit, or mobile device, and can accept and adjust alarms from anywhere, potentially improving patient recovery experiences as all SDC-enabled device alarms can be muted in the patient room.” (Philips).

The combination of remote monitoring devices, instantaneous and unified patient data streams, and alarm monitoring and control services, healthcare providers can better manage the patient experience and allow more room for restful healing to take place.