The Hospital Clínic Barcelona has launched the ALERTA Project, an initiative aimed at reinforcing the prevention and early detection of clinical deterioration in hospitalized patients, as well as improving the capacity for clinical response.
The project is based on the creation of a multidisciplinary team that works in a coordinated manner to identify any sign of deterioration at an early stage and to activate a rapid and efficient response. The key to this model is the standardization of care in inpatient wards, which make it possible to optimize care processes and enhance professionals’ competencies in clinical assessment and decision-making.
Patients admitted to the wards are continuously monitored via the ClinScreen platform, where approximately 450 patients are supervised simultaneously thanks to advanced technology that allows information from vital signs monitoring devices to be integrated.
The project involves professionals from the inpatient wards and critical care units and has its own nursing team, made up of around 30 specialized nurses, with cross-disciplinary competencies in critical patient care. Both the ALERTA Team and the Monitoring Centre act as a cross-disciplinary operative support unit for all the care teams, providing cover 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, at the Villarroel Centre.
The rollout began in early January 2026 at the Villarroel Centre and is scheduled to extend to the Plató and Maternitat centres in May.
A collaborative working model focused on early detection
One of the distinguishing features of the ALERTA Project is the key role played by nursing professionals on the inpatient wards. Thanks to their direct and continuous contact with the patient and their family, they are the ones who can identify early signs of risk and trigger the escalation of care. This process is always carried out in close coordination with the medical team and with the support of the ALERTA Nursing Team. For this reason, having professionals trained in the early detection of clinical deterioration is essential.
This model represents a significant change in the working methodology on hospital wards, with the aim of systematizing data collection, improving the clinical assessment of patients, and optimizing clinical decision-making. As one of the project’s managers points out, this initiative “represents an alignment towards a new way of working as a team, based on coordination, shared responsibility, and the standardization of the natural process of care for hospitalized patients”.
Technological resources
The project incorporates 210 devices for taking vital signs and 110 screens distributed throughout the hospital, which allow for the visualization of patients’ clinical information in real time via the ClinScreen platform. The Villarroel Centre also has a specific monitoring centre for this project.
This technological infrastructure drives the digitalization of the care process: the devices not only record vital signs but also integrate nursing assessments directly into the electronic health record, improving traceability and the quality of the record.
The functions of the ALERTA Nursing Team include the active and passive telemetric monitoring of patients, therapeutic education, training for professionals on the inpatient wards, and joint assessment with the multidisciplinary teams responsible for the patients. They also support the referral of critically ill patients, such as admissions to the ICU or transfers to the operating theatre for urgent surgical interventions.
Training
The project also includes an extensive training programme for around 1,500 professionals—nursing staff, medical staff and residents—which combines theoretical training with clinical simulation sessions, scheduled to begin in the summer. It is estimated that it will take around 8 months to train all the necessary staff. Moreover, the programme will be incorporated structurally into the onboarding process for new professionals, with periodic practical sessions.
With the ALERTA Project, the Hospital Clínic Barcelona reinforces clinical safety, improves the systematic monitoring of patients, and ensures a more agile, coordinated and effective response to potential or actual deteriorating situations, contributing significantly to excellence in patient care.
