01 / 07Hospitals
A hospital room with the XK300 Essence on the wall above the bed
Hospitals In-patient · general wards · step-down · post-acute

Continuous vitals for the beds that are not on a monitor.

The XK300 Essence on the wall above the bed, or beneath the mattress. Heart rate and breathing rate every few seconds, day and night, with nothing on the patient. For your heart-failure patients, the same device prescribed before they go home.

On the ward Pre-ICU · post-ICU · post-procedure · general wards

On the wall or beneath the mattress. Read every few seconds.

A hospital ward at night

The XK300 Essence goes on the wall above the head of the bed, or beneath a foam mattress where the wall does not work. It measures resting heart rate, breathing rate and the breathing waveform every few seconds, day and night. Nothing on the patient; nothing for nursing to charge, apply or remember.

  • On the wall, aimed at the chest, or flat on the head end of the bed deck.
  • Heart rate, breathing rate and the breathing waveform, every few seconds.
  • Sudden-change notifications, at a sensitivity the hospital sets.
  • Bed exit and sustained large body motion.
What it changes on the ward

Sepsis. Code blue. The changes that start between rounds.

Sepsis

A rising breathing rate, seen between rounds.

Breathing rate is one of the three bedside criteria clinicians use when they screen for sepsis, and it is the vital sign least reliably counted on a busy ward. The XK300 measures it every few seconds, all night, so a rise is in front of the team between checks, not at the next one.

Code blue

The drift before a code, made visible.

Before many in-hospital arrests, heart rate and breathing drift for hours while the patient is between checks. Continuous readings put that drift in front of the team, at a sensitivity the hospital sets, instead of in the chart afterwards.

Night-time checks, continuously

Staffing is thinnest at night. Every bed is measured every few seconds, so the team is informed between rounds rather than at the next one.

Bed exit and vacancy

The team is informed when a bed that should be occupied is empty, and for how long.

Large body motion, sustained

Movement that is large and keeps going, agitation or distress, informs the team, with the duration.

The XK300 is FDA-cleared to measure heart rate and respiration rate in adults. It is not an alarm system for acute life-threatening events, does not diagnose any condition, including sepsis, and does not replace clinical monitoring where that is indicated. Notifications inform the care team; decisions remain theirs.

Placement A public hospital in Hong Kong · running now

A ward never stops moving. So the sensor reads only the torso.

The problem

Everything around the bed moves.

Radar reads movement. On a ward, three things move besides the patient: the overhead grab bar when it is lowered and swings, a family member talking at the bedside for hours, and machines such as a ventilator. A sensor on the wall picks up all of them.

The solution

Beneath the mattress. Torso only.

The front unit of the XK300 Essence lies flat on the head end of the bed deck, under the foam mattress and the patient’s chest, with its scanning region limited to 60 centimetres. Heart rate and breathing rate come through; the grab bar, the visitor and the ventilator are outside the region it reads.

  • Works under foam mattresses, not through metal springs.
  • The bed can be raised, lowered and articulated.
  • XK support sets the range from the sensor’s serial.
Install notes, from the ward
The bed head raised; the disc on the deck stays in place

Raise, lower or articulate the bed: the unit stays put on the deck and keeps reading.

The cable tied along the bed frame under the deck

One thin cable, tied along the frame under the deck to the wall socket. Nothing in reach, nothing to snag.

A laptop beside the ward monitor during commissioning

Commissioning: readings checked at the bedside against the ward’s own monitor before the bed goes live.

US & CanadaUsing Hillrom or Stryker beds? Read this before installing.

The hospital owns its beds, and no rule requires the bed maker’s permission to lay a sensor on the deck. But in the United States and Canada, bed makers’ manuals ask hospitals to use only their own parts and accessories, and their warranties can exclude damage caused by another maker’s accessory or by any alteration. So clinical engineering teams ask. Here is what to tell them, and what to do.

Placed, not attached

The XK300 Essence lies on the deck under the mattress. Nothing is drilled, bolted or stuck to the bed, and nothing connects to the bed’s electrics. It does not alter the bed.

What the manuals actually say

Their wording limits the bed maker’s warranty and liability. It does not stop the hospital from using the bed as it chooses. The steps below keep the bed working exactly as its maker intended.

  1. Re-zero the bed scaleWeight and bed-exit alerts use the bed’s load cells. After placing the unit, use the bed’s own item-change or zero step so the unit is weighed out.
  2. Route the cable clearAlong the frame, away from hinges and pinch points. Run the bed through its full range once before sign-off.
  3. Plug into the wallNever into the bed’s own power outlet.
  4. Foam mattresses onlyLeave air and therapy surfaces out. The unit does not read through them, and they change how the bed behaves.
  5. Clinical engineering signs offOne page per bed: placement, cable route, scale re-zeroed, articulation checked. The hospital owns the decision.
A sensor centred on the wall directly above the head of a hospital bed, with its narrow field of view drawn over the bed
Second-best option
If nothing may go on the bed: centre it on the wall, directly above

Mount the sensor on the wall at the head of the bed, centred over the pillow and close to it, and XK support sets a short reading range for that serial. The narrow field of view takes the patient rather than the pumps and cables. Expect more interruption from visitors and equipment than under the mattress, which remains the first choice.

Hillrom and Stryker are trademarks of their owners. This is practical installation guidance, not legal advice; the hospital’s own bed contracts decide.

Sudden change, regardless of baseline No history needed

The hospital sets how much change, and for how long.

A patient before or after intensive care has no calm nights to compare with. So on the ward the XK300 informs the team of a rise or drop in heart rate or breathing rate, of a size and duration the hospital chooses, per ward or per patient.

Too sensitive and the ward drowns in false flags. Too loose and a change is missed.

Too sensitiveToo loose Small changes inform the teamFrequent notifications, many of them noiseOnly large drops or climbs inform the teamQuiet, but a real change can be missed The hospital sets the point, per ward or per patient

Like the equaliser on a speaker: the size of change and how long it must last are yours to tune. XK informs; the clinical judgement stays with the team.

Heart failure Prescribed today · under the existing clearance

Your heart-failure patients. Prescribe it before they go home.

Hospitals treat heart failure, and hospitals send those patients home. The XK300 Essence is a prescription device, cleared to measure heart rate and breathing rate in adults, including in home healthcare. A heart-failure patient is an adult who needs exactly those read, every night, without being asked to do anything. You can prescribe it to your existing patients today, with no study enrolment.

  • On the ward during the admission, beneath the mattress or on the wall.
  • Prescribed at discharge; the same record continues at home.
  • Nothing to wear, charge or apply, for months or years.
  • Your team reads the nights in the dashboard or through the API.
The path, step by step
  1. Cardiology visit or admissionThe patient is identified before discharge.
  2. XK300 Essence prescribedUnder 510(k) K202464: heart rate and breathing rate in adults, at home.
  3. Home, for months to yearsOn the wall above the bed or under a foam mattress. Nothing worn, nothing charged.
  4. Your team reads the recordResting heart rate, breathing rate, breathing pattern, bed presence and movement, with each night beside the patient's own recent nights. Heartbeat Clarity shown as information.
What heart-failure patients are given today Categories, not brands

Between a bathroom scale and an implant, nothing stayed.

Bathroom scale
Reactive

Scale and blood-pressure cuff

Same time every morning, if it happens. Easy to skip, and weight moves only after fluid has already built up.

Smartwatch
Dies in days

Smartwatch

Prescribed by some cardiology programmes today. A watch needs charging; patients come back after thirty days with a few days of data and a dead watch.

Adhesive wearable patch
About five days

Adhesive patch

The common choice in US hospitals after discharge. Wearable ECG and vitals for roughly five days per patch, then it is replaced or the record ends. Skin, adhesive, a return kit, and someone to apply the next one.

Pulmonary-artery pressure sensor
Severe only

Pulmonary-artery implant

A procedure, and a cost that reserves it for the most severe. Out of reach for nine in ten.

XK300 Essence
The missing tier

XK300 Essence, at home

On the wall or under the mattress, prescribed before discharge. Nothing to wear, charge or apply. Heart rate, breathing rate and breathing pattern every few seconds, all night, for months or years, and your team watches the record.

What is cleared

Measuring heart rate and breathing rate in adults, including in home healthcare. Prescription only. It does not diagnose heart failure.

Shown as information

Breathing-rate variability as a trend, and Heartbeat Clarity as an investigational measure under study with cardiology programmes. Neither is a diagnosis.

How it is covered in the US

Remote patient monitoring device-supply and management codes. For information; your billing team confirms eligibility.

Heartbeat Clarity is investigational and not a cleared measurement. The study sites are set and XK is not enrolling additional hospitals. XK does not predict or diagnose health events.

The XK300 Essence on a bedroom wall above the bed at home Out-patient · home health monitoring Same device. In your patients’ home. Interested in how the record continues after discharge? See what your team reads between visits, from the bedroom wall. Home health monitoring
One more room on the ward SUHO · bathrooms · motion-based

The bathroom, where nobody can look.

The sensor on the ceiling of an emergency-department bathroom

On the ceiling of the emergency-department bathroom, in the same Hong Kong hospital.

A patient who collapses in a bathroom cannot call for help. SUHO, short for Sustained Unconscious Human Occupant, is a separate function on the same radar platform. It reads occupancy and movement only, and notifies staff when someone present stays still beyond a time the hospital sets.

  • No camera, no microphone, no image, no audio.
  • Threshold set per bathroom: 2 minutes 30 seconds by default.
  • A long-stay notification when a bathroom stays occupied too long.

SUHO is a motion and occupancy function, not a vital-sign measurement, and makes no medical claim.