On Friday, August 26, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Foundation and the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists will host a free patient safety webinar focusing on the challenges and benefits of implementing continuous monitoring of patients receiving opioid painkillers. The seminar will take place from 12–1 p.m. ET.

Opioids are known to cause respiratory depression and are involved in almost half of all deaths attributed to medication errors. In hospitals, failing to recognize and reverse opioid-induced respiratory depression following surgery can lead to cardiac arrest.

During the upcoming seminar, Theresa Kloewer, MSN, RN, vice president of nursing for medical-surgical services at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and Julie Painter, MSN, RN, OCN, a clinical nurse specialist for the Community Health Network of Indianapolis, will discuss the improvements their organizations have made in continuously monitoring patients on parenteral opioids in the general care setting.

They will outline the implementation process for their continuous monitoring initiatives, describe the results of these initiatives to date, identify ongoing and future initiatives, and provide lessons learned to assist seminar participants in implementing similar initiatives at their own institutions.

“Implementing continuous monitoring of patients on opioids is such an important initiative for hospitals to undertake,” says Marilyn Neder Flack, senior vice president of patient safety initiatives and executive director of the AAMI Foundation. “Results from places such as Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital and the Community Health Network, as well as from other members of the AAMI Foundation’s National Coalition to Promote the Continuous Monitoring of Patients on Opioids, show that leveraging this technology not only improves patient care, but also saves people’s lives.”

Biomedical and clinical engineers, patient safety managers, IT specialists, and others involved in physiological monitoring are encouraged to register. The seminar is free; however, those wishing to receive CE credit will need to pay $25 following the event.