Nihon Kohden Launches NK-HiQ™ Wireless Patient Monitoring System at HIMSS18

 Nihon Kohden Corporation has announced the commercial launch of its NK- HiQ^TM Wireless Patient Monitoring System, a smart, secure data acquisition and management platform that leverages Wi-Fi technology to provide safe continuous patient monitoring in the hospital setting. With a suite of fully featured central station, bedside, transport and wearable patient monitors, the system captures and manages patient data from admission to discharge, seamlessly throughout the enterprise. The company will showcase its NK-HiQ system at Nihon Kohden’s HIMSS18 booth (10925) in Las Vegas, March 5–8.

"We believe that wireless patient monitoring is the future of healthcare, and with our NK-HiQ system, we are at the forefront of that future," said Dr. Wilson P. Constantine, CEO of Nihon Kohden America. "With NK-HiQ, care providers can leverage their investment in existing 802.11 infrastructure to keep patients safe and clinicians informed no matter patient acuity level or location in the hospital. Ultimately, we expect this advanced wireless system to give clinicians the data they need at the point of care to move into a new era of preventive and predictive health."

Built with the knowledge that patients have better outcomes when they ambulate¹and receive the same level of physiological monitoring during transport as they do when in the ICU², the NK-HiQ system provides safe patient monitoring in virtually every area of the hospital. The system enables continuous remote monitoring and robust data collection even during transport, one of the most high-risk times in the care continuum. All monitors come "premium as standard," or fully featured in base configuration, to quickly capture changes in patient condition. In addition, a proprietary algorithm in the wearable monitors helps detect falls and wandering.

Addressing the healthcare system’s need to maintain a comprehensive patient record, the NK-HiQ system’s smart design ensures patient data is captured and managed without compromise. The system cost effectively leverages hospitals’ investment in existing 802.11 infrastructure while supporting diverse Wi-Fi requirements, including bandwidth-preserving deployment on a shared SSID. Moreover, an innovative data backfill function and intelligent local monitoring mode switch are designed to protect patients and their data during periods of Wi-Fi coverage loss.

"Traditionally, Wi-Fi-based monitoring manufacturers have asked hospitals to create separate channels just for their systems, but our NK-HiQ system can actually coexist with other devices on the hospital's network and share that bandwidth," said Harsh Dharwad, vice president and chief technology officer of Nihon Kohden America. "With NK-HiQ, wireless patient monitoring deployment is seamless, enabling care providers to focus on patients and not Wi-Fi requirements."

With the ever-increasing threat of a cybersecurity breach, the NK-HiQ system was designed for security and interoperability, from product development to post-sales support. The system adheres to the latest wireless protocols, including 802.1X and WPA2 Enterprise with AES encryption and EAP authentication, and its central station runs on the Microsoft Window 10 secure operating system. Built to seamlessly integrate with the hospital enterprise, NK-HiQ keeps data protected by requiring authorized access to the Nihon Kohden network. Nihon Kohden cybersecurity domain experts validate the system’s security patches on a monthly basis.

About Nihon Kohden Corporation

Founded in Japan in 1951, Nihon Kohden is the leading manufacturer, developer and distributor of medical electronic equipment, with subsidiaries in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The company’s products are now used in more than 120 countries, and it is the largest supplier of electroencephalography products worldwide. A pioneer in transformational healthcare technology, Nihon Kohden has envisioned, designed and produced revolutionary devices, such as pulse oximeters, arrhythmia analysis, low-invasive blood volume monitoring and wireless patient monitoring. In the U.S., the company is a trusted source for patient monitoring, sleep assessment, neurology and cardiology instrumentation solutions, and has been rated No. 1 in patient monitoring or telemetry for more than 10 consecutive years (MD Buyline).

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