Managing patient safety presents some very unique and difficult challenges to hospitals, as healthcare workers have to provide high quality patient care at the same time as making sure patients:
- Don’t “wander” and disappear e.g. patients with cognitive disorders get lost somewhere in the hospital
- Are administered the right medication in a timely manner
- Do not cause other patients distress or pose a risk to hospital workers or visitors
- Who move around and exercising as part of their healing process can be easily located
- Being a curious child can disappear in seconds and not be found for hours
- That suffer from dementia might walk out the front door and not be noticed by anyone
The overall challenge is that the hospital staff may spend hours finding these patients, and every hour that passes by the patient under search is not receiving the critical care he was scheduled for, such as getting medication, having vital signs measured or receiving a treatment or therapy.
So how can technology help?
Benefit from wireless tracking devices on wrist and ankle bands
Small, low weight (35 grammes), long life battery powered wireless wristband trackers (that can also be worn on ankles) help hospital staff keep track of patients, whilst also alerting of events or incidents that require immediate attention. By leveraging a hospitals existing Wi-Fi network, wireless wristband trackers show where all tagged patients are at any time, anywhere within the footprint of the network- indoors or outdoors. If a patient is in his room or on his assigned floor, they will be located. Should a confined patient walk into the fire escape, the wireless tracking back end office software alerts staff members and security officers about the event.
The rechargeable wristband tracker can be worn by a patient around their wrist or ankle depending on the type of patient and situation. The tracker has a highly sensitive motion sensor that cannot only
detect motion but also detect if the tag has been removed or tampered with.
Using mobility rules
A patient wearing wireless wristband tracker can have specific mobility rules applied to them such as:
- “Should not leave this floor”
- “Allowed full mobility – but alert if they go outside”
A mobility profile can be configured for individual or groups of trackers. So for example if a patient wanders, but within limits allowed by the system, healthcare workers can see this on a general system status screen. Should however the patient exit an area or go through a door they are not supposed to, then the staff, security, transport and any other department on the escalation list can be alerted to address the situation. Any type of entry or exit event can be monitored and respectively alerted on. Healthcare workers carrying wireless pagers can receive alerts while on the move and be notified of the status and whereabouts of their patients.
Two way messaging
The wireless wristband tracker has a help button that can be configured to signal “help” or other messages when it is pressed. As the back end office software has full two-way communication capabilities over Wi-Fi, a wireless wristband tracker can be alerted via illuminating the multi-color LEDs on its front, or by activating the built in vibration unit. These capabilities can be configured to signal events to the patient such as:
- “Please return to your room” or
- “Time for your medications” etc.
Patients can acknowledge calls by pressing a button on the wireless wristband tracker. Similarly a patient can call for help by pressing the tag button, and the system triggers an alarm with location information to be sent to healthcare staff members.
Room and sub-room accuracy
Wireless wristband trackers are designed to be worn comfortably on a person’s wrist or ankle using a standard hospital wristband that can be attached through slots on both sides of the unit. The tracker is waterproof allowing it to be thoroughly sanitised after use. The wearer of the tag can comfortably bathe or shower as well while wearing it. Importantly alerts can be set up for entry and exit events, when a person is leaving or entering a building or a pre-defined zone. In addition, escalation, built in incident reporting and work flow are all built into the back end office software.
The location of the tracker is determined by monitoring the signal strengths between Wi-Fi access points and the tracker units. Typically a Wi-Fi network that is designed for enterprise grade access point density allows for the locating of tags to within a few meters or room or bed level accuracy. For areas where the Wi-Fi coverage is poor the tracker includes an infrared sensor to boost signals using inexpensive infra-red location beacons. These are combined with Wi-Fi signals to provide a very accurate location estimate that can pinpoint a patient’s location to his or her room or bed depending on the type of beacon used.