Usage of Novel Blood Sensing Capsule in Emergency Department to Triage Patients With Suspected Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

The use of the PillSense System enables the clinician to make a more informed choice on the treatment plan for the patient. If the system revealed "No Blood Detected", this is suggestive there is absence of blood in the stomach. Together with the presenting symptoms, physical examination and laboratory tests, it gives the emergency physician a more accurate method to detect if patient is actively bleeding. If patient remained stable during the monitoring, the patient can be discharged home for early outpatient review, instead of waiting in Emergency Department (ED) for prolonged duration to be admitted and wait in the ward for investigations like gastroscopy to be performed. This reduces unnecessary strain on the hospital's limited resources and may improve overall patient's experience. Patients with 'Blood Detected' result will be admitted with early gastroscopy planned within 72 hours. Patients with 'No Blood Detected' result, will be monitored closely in ED and, if deemed to be stable, to be discharged with an outpatient gastroscopy within 96 hours. A product such as the PillSense System which employs a minimally invasive method to help clinicians detect whether or not a patient has blood in upper gastrointestinal tract within 10 minutes. This will be a quick and objective tool to determine if the patient is having active upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB), to assist in triaging patients for more emergent definitive care. This system can also be easily administered by non-clinician and do not require special training to read the results, minimising the need for highly specialised staff to provide this service. The information provided by the PillSense System which taken together with other clinical parameters may lead to more efficient, safer and higher quality patient care.