How Integrated Alert Platforms Improve Long-Term Clinical Care
We are rapidly reaching a critical need for a more sophisticated way to integrate the myriad alarm and security systems found in long-term care facilities. Falls, wandering, pressure sores, and external threats from visitors to acute care and assisted living facility residents are just the tip of an iceberg that could cause real damage.
An integrated system that can handle the needs of skilled nursing as well as facility security and safety is the logical answer. How can these platforms help both residents and the caregivers devoted to their care?
Integrated nurse call and skilled nursing
There is a perception in the skilled nursing community that alarming devices are more annoying and costly than they are worth. However, this assumption is based on traditional alarm systems that lack the integrated features of today’s tools. Long-term care environments clearly need the assistance that these advanced solutions can provide, particularly in automating rounding to reduce resident falls and alleviating preventable conditions such as pressure sores.
Current data shows that falls within long-term care facilities are anything but under control; the current average is 1.6 falls per bed annually — with many of these residents falling more than once. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracked data from 1,117 falls reported by skilled nursing and long-term care facilities between 2011 and 2015. They determined 88.5% of those incidents included allegations that the facility failed to monitor their residents and provided improper care. These falls occurred from a variety of circumstances — from a resident’s medication or frail condition, a sudden drop in blood pressure, or even throw rugs, or low lighting. All of these risks must be addressed, whether it’s through the use of technology or another approach.
Proper implementation of integrated alarm technologies can help reverse this trend by increasing the security of residents that have cognitive decline or whose mobility puts them at greater risk of falling. One study called bed alarms, “a useful component of a well-designed fall prevention program.”
Integrated security systems and resident safety
The Alzheimer’s Association suggests that three out of every five dementia residents in assisted living will wander due to the restlessness and confusion that comes with the disease. This puts these elderly patrons at high risk of injury. As the U.S. population continues to age, there is a greater need for systems that can integrate internal alarms and memory care technology to lessen the risk to long-term care residents.
Also, there is the issue of crime and security. Physical crime, such as breaking into a living area, cybercrime, or even the inability to monitor visitors during the COVID-19 crisis, are all critical to resident security. Having the ability to lock down a facility to protect residents and staff is critical, no matter the danger.
The problem is that many of the security technologies in use today are a patchwork of disparate software and hardware combinations that do not play well with the system as a whole. This can lead to blind spots that could cause harm to residents or put a facility at risk. Administrators should focus strongly on systems that can integrate with internal alarms and memory care technology to improve facility security.
Features and benefits of integrated alert platforms for acute care facilities
Keeping people and property protected while improving care delivery are the goals of modern integrated alert platforms. These sophisticated systems overlay existing platforms while providing an integrated way to categorize, organize, and improve the efficiency of the entire system. Some of the features of these systems include:
Call analysis reports, including elapsed time between call origination and call cancel
Bed turn software that activates the dome light over the door and notifies the appropriate certified nursing assistant (CNA)
Flexible alerting for patients and staff
Door and window egress alarms
Wandering patient alerts
Bed and chair exit pads with notification alerts
Wireless ventilator alarms
These tools offer a number of benefits currently missing from siloed technologies within the acute care nursing setting. Integrated alert platforms can:
Improve access controls by combining them with video surveillance and notification capabilities that can alert security if someone enters a secured area.
Offer real-time monitoring of a facility and parking lot that can allow faster response.
Use intelligent software to not only trigger an alert but also be programmed with other reactions such as sealing the doors of a facility.
Increase efficiency by centralizing operations through one integrated security hub.
Collect data, analyze it, and spot trends that could improve the overall security or clinical response.
Interoperability has long been a problem in today’s healthcare facilities. Taking an integrated approach to the myriad technology components designed to protect residents, staff, and the long-term care facility itself improves safety and the quality of care.
TRL Systems is the nation’s leading provider of these sophisticated platforms that can transform your organization for the better. Talk with our team today to find out how we can help.