Continuous vital sign monitoring after major abdominal surgery—Quantification of micro events

Introduction Millions of patients undergo major abdominal surgery worldwide each year, and the post‐operative phase carries a high risk of respiratory and circulatory complications. Standard ward observation of patients includes vital sign registration at regular intervals. Patients may deteriorate between measurements, and this may be detected by continuous monitoring. The aim of this study was to compare the number of micro events detected by continuous monitoring to those documented by the widely used standardized Early Warning Score (EWS). Methods Fifty patients were continuously monitored with peripheral arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2), heart rate (HR), and respiratory rate (RR) the first 4 days after major abdominal cancer surgery. EWS was monitored as routine practice. Number and duration of events were analyzed using Fisher's exact test and Wilcoxon rank sum test. Results Continuous monitoring detected a SpO2