Laying Out the Landscape in Today’s Patient Monitoring

More and more hospital environments rely on continuous, high-quality data to support faster clinical decisions, but much of today’s patient monitoring still varies widely by unit, device, and workflow. This episode kicks off a five-part Health and Life Sciences at the Edge series exploring The Future of Patient Monitoring. Intel’s Kaeli Tully, Solutions Engineer for Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Dr. Sanjay Subramanian, Critical Care Physician and CEO/Founder of Omnicure, speak with Michelle Dawn Mooney about what patient monitoring looks like on the front lines and what it will take to spot decline earlier across the hospital.

Dr. Subramanian frames monitoring as a continuum across care intensity, noting that “hospitals are sort of and have always existed in two segments… the low-intensity segment and the high-intensity, which is the intensive care units.” While most patients receive some level of vital signs monitoring, he explains that “the frequency with which that happens is highly variable,” even though deterioration can occur without warning. In his view, “all patients deserve probably continuous monitoring,” but the barrier is often cost and operational feasibility.

The conversation also highlights why monitoring matters most outside the ICU, especially when hospitals face crowding and staffing gaps. Dr. Subramanian emphasizes that critical care is strained by workforce realities, sharing that “most, I would say 80% of ICUs in the country, don’t have dedicated 24-7 staffing by board-certified intensive care physicians,” which accelerates interest in telecritical care and tele-ICU models. He describes how “ICU without walls” expands critical care beyond a fixed unit, recognizing that patients “deteriorate on the floors… in the emergency rooms, the operating theaters, and the PACUs.” The goal becomes extending expertise and visibility wherever patients are.

From an infrastructure perspective, the episode digs into the challenge of heterogeneous device ecosystems and inconsistent access to data streams. Dr. Subramanian notes that “it becomes easier if the technology stack is homogenous,” but many hospitals have “multiple devices of different ages” and cannot “reliably access the data from them.” Looking forward, he identifies a clear priority: “We need to solve for getting access to data reliably, continuously, and that’s high fidelity at scale,” and pair it with “the appropriate workflows to make that data actionable.”

Learn more about patient monitoring innovation by connecting with Kaeli Tully and Dr. Sanjay Subramanian on LinkedIn, or by visiting Omnicure and Intel Health and Life Sciences.

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