Provider of software solutions for nursing homes and hospitals, HealthCarion GmbH, recently teamed up with Ekahau, a major player in the real-time locating systems (RTLS) market, to create a wireless call system for the Bad Eilsen Nursing Home in Germany. The system utilizes the HealthCarion Patient Location Guard (PLG) software-based nurse call system and Ekahau's Wi-Fi tag-based WLAN locating system.
The call system was installed and integrated into the existing information systems of the nursing home within two weeks. The way it works is that residents wear Ekahau wristband tags which allow them to call for help from any location, sending an alert out to Ekahau Wi-Fi Pagers, carried by staff, which provide an exact location of the patient in need. The system covers the entire facility, inside and out, so even patients on the grounds can receive quick help at the press of a button.
Features of the nurse call system include a built-in module, which analyzes incoming distress calls and prioritizes based on category of patient — for example, high-risk groups like patients with dementia may need more immediate assistance. Furthermore, the system can be upgraded to include staff assistance calls, technical alarms or anti-theft alarms without the need for additional hardware; these features can be activated by way of the system's software interface.
"The nurse-call system delivered by HealthCarion GmbH was installed and put into operation very quickly and without the need for any major construction," said Mrs. Maffert, managing director at Désirée, in a press release. "The option to deploy wandering patient protection and staff-assistance calls in the existing system was one of the main reasons why we opted for this solution"
In May, Ekahau released the B4 Staff Badge and Pager with an OLED text display which allows employees to send each other text messages over Wi-Fi as well as send and acknowledge alarms.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
