Baby monitors used to observe COVID-19 patients

It reduces doctors' risk of infection and preserves limited PPE stock, says US infectious diseases specialist Dr Stephen Parodi

Hospital staff are using baby monitors to keep an eye on COVID-19 patients in an attempt to reduce their own risk of infection, according to a US infectious diseases specialist.

Dr Stephen Parodi, incident commander of hospital network Kaiser Permanente’s national response to COVID-19, says baby monitors reduce the number of staff going into a patient’s room and help preserve limited PPE stock.

“A physician can actually virtually examine a patient with another practitioner in the room,” he told JAMA editor-in-chief Dr Howard Bauchner during an extensive interview.

“You’re … cutting down on the number of people [and] protecting the healthcare workforce maximally.”