"With these new solutions we are broadening our portfolio to meet the rapidly emerging needs of general care departments in hospitals. I am convinced that these solutions are a landmark in patient vital sign acquisition and will help simplify clinical workflows and improve the quality of patient care," said Steve Rusckowski, CEO, for Philips Healthcare. "Because of our expertise in patient monitoring and the considerable market potential of vital sign acquisition in low acuity settings in hospitals, this is an important growth area for Philips."

As a result of trends in aging world populations, medical personnel in general wards are being confronted with gradually more older and sicker patients. In addition, because Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are becoming an increasingly critical resource, patients are being discharged earlier from ICUs into general care departments. At the same time, there is an increased focus in hospitals on the prevention of medical errors and adverse events. One method of maintaining close supervision is to frequently monitor a patient's vital body signs and generate an automatic notification in the event of abnormalities. Today, however, only 40 percent of beds in the hospital are equipped with patient monitoring systems.

"Current trends in healthcare demand the frequent monitoring of many patients outside the Intensive Care Unit, and today's manual monitoring procedures are often no longer sufficient," said Andreas Hvarfner, MD, Ph of Lund University Hospital in Lund, Sweden. "Although warning signs are typically present early on, critical changes in the patient's health status are not always detected in time. Intelligent monitoring and early warning systems can help us to intervene at an early stage in order to avoid the occurrence of critical events, which may considerably increase patient safety."

Philips expects the first orders for general ward solutions to come from hospitals in the U.S., Scandinavia, United Kingdom and Australia, since hospitals in these countries have already established so-called Rapid Response Teams. A Rapid Response Team is a group of critical care specialists that intervenes as soon as a patient's condition deteriorates critically. Studies have shown that employing Rapid Response Teams can considerably reduce mortality and morbidity rates. It is expected that early warning systems, such as those featured in Philips new range of solutions, could support and bolster the efficiency of such teams.

Related news articles:

• Philips Healthcare's Profile

About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people's lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of "sense and simplicity". Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs more than 118,000 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of US 32.3 billion in 2009, the company is a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure with strong leadership positions in flat TV, male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.