Saint-Denis Hospital Centre in Greater Paris is adopting a cloud-based telemonitoring system as part of an experimental mobile neonatology unit. The unit is part of a move to allow earlier discharge of premature newborns from the neonatal ICU to home care while remaining under close hospital supervision.

The hospital has adopted the SafetyNet telemonitoring platform from Swiss firm Masimo.

Saint-Denis Hospital Centre is the acute healthcare provider for the second largest suburb in the Paris region, with two major hospital sites across the Plaine Commune district. It serves around 435,000 people with 839 beds, including tertiary perinatal and neonatal care centres. The district, home to a former industrial area, is being converted to greater residential use and is the fastest growing population centre within Paris. The district is also the site of the Stade de France and hosted both Football World Cups and the 2024 Olympics.

Masimo SafetyNet provides wireless continuous monitoring and spot-check devices, customisable CarePrograms with symptom reporting, and a secure in-hospital clinical portal that allows care teams to keep watch over a large volume of patients. Following discharge, families are sent home with an easy-to-use pulse oximetry sensor, Radius PPG and a smartphone application. The sensor, worn on the foot of neonatal patients, includes a chip that sends health data to the app, where parents can keep an eye on their baby’s condition and communicate with caregivers. From the hospital, caregivers receive that same data as well as notification logs about changes in a patient’s condition—enabling them to prioritise those who may need care escalation.

Dr Pascal Bolot, head of neonatal intensive care at Saint-Denis, first implemented home visits in partnership with the ARS, a regional health authority, to address the lack of care following hospital discharge and alleviate the distress of the abrupt shift from hospital to home for families. Saint-Denis’ experience providing home visits was a key advantage when it came to implementing remote neonatal monitoring, alongside eleven other French facilities taking part in the trial.

With the integration of Masimo SafetyNet, the pilot has expanded its approach. According to Dr Alizée Lori, the paediatrician at Saint-Denis who oversees the mobile unit, “brings premature newborns into a secure home environment equivalent to hospital-grade monitoring quality.” The addition of this technology serves as an opportunity to “put the premature newborn back in the centre of the family,” said Dr Bolot.

As a rule, neonatology services do not allow premature babies to return home before the end of 36 weeks of corrected age. Masimo SafetyNet may help make it possible to secure an earlier return home, serving as a relay between hospital staff and families and providing comprehensive support for premature babies in their first few weeks of life. The success of this programme could lead to the deployment of Masimo SafetyNet in other care areas, particularly in paediatric care, including home patient management of various conditions.

Dr Lori said, “We chose this Masimo solution because of its innovative nature and the practical aspect of wireless physiological data monitoring; it’s easy for families to use and gives our medical team easy access to patients’ health data from the hospital. Since Masimo is used in many neonatology departments, including CH Delafontaine, we were confident in the reliability of the data recorded. This solution allows us to adapt care protocols to meet the needs of our vulnerable patients. Additionally, the Masimo team has supported us since the beginning of the project, and is still available on a daily basis.”