Importance of hospital wayfinding in 2024
Read morePatient Wandering System
The safety and well-being of patients are top priorities for hospitals and healthcare facilities, particularly those serving elderly individuals. Many residents in these institutions live with conditions such as Alzheimer's, dementia, and other disorders that increase their risk of wandering. They may leave their rooms unsupervised, potentially ending up in dangerous or life-threatening situations. Statistics show that six out of ten people with dementia have wandered at least once, a major concern for both their families and medical staff.
So, how can we ensure the safety of elderly patients and prevent them from wandering outside clinics? The solution is a wander management system.This solution enables real-time monitoring of patients’ movements, allowing healthcare providers to track their routes and control their mobility to reduce risks effectively.At Navigine, we are developing a patient wandering alert system and are ready to provide tools for implementing the platform into the hospital infrastructure.
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Keeping elderly patients safe
Wander guard systems are designed to support the safety and independence of patients by monitoring their movements and gently preventing them from unintentionally leaving the clinic. These systems allow patients to maintain a sense of freedom while giving medical staff the ability to monitor their location through a web interface and provide assistance when needed, ensuring their well-being.
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Increasing the satisfaction of patients and their families
Wander management systems provide peace of mind to patients' loved ones, assuring them that their family members are safe and protected. With these systems in place, families can feel confident that their loved ones are cared for in a secure environment, reducing the risk of them getting lost or encountering danger. This sense of safety and trust fosters greater satisfaction and strengthens their loyalty to the medical facility.
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Receive real-time notifications
The wander management system provides medical staff with instant notifications in case of emergencies. If a patient leaves the territory of the hospital, loses or removes their bracelet with a label, or doesn’t return to their room after a certain time, the system immediately alerts the appropriate staff.
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Minimizing Staff Time Spent Locating Patients
The patient wandering alert system helps staff manage their time efficiently. Thanks to wander management, employees can find a missing person in a matter of minutes. This increases the overall productivity of the clinic and allows employees to focus on their daily activities.
Wander Management Solutions We Offer
Wandering Patient Tracking
Wander management systems work based on advanced indoor positioning technology. Patients are provided with bracelets (or smart watches/badges), which are tags with identifiers inside. Beacons are installed throughout the clinic building, sending out signals at a certain cadence. As soon as a person with a tag enters their coverage area, they determine their location and send updates to the smartphones/desktop computers of the medical staff accordingly.
When implementing patient wandering systems, a digital map is provided to the staff, which allows them to track the patient's movement. Surveillance is carried out in real-time, which means that the staff is always aware of where their patient is currently. Mobile tag wristbands are compact, reliable, and easy to manage, and therefore guarantee accurate updates according to the patient’s location.
Features:
- Providing a map of the hospital with access zones for the patient;
- Tracking the current location of patients;
- Monitoring the movements of patients battling memory loss;
- Creating safe spaces with the definition of access for each patient;
- Building short and convenient routes from a medical professional to a patient.
Expected benefits:
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Improving the efficiency of medical staff
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Preventing wandering and leaving the territory
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Increasing the satisfaction of patients and their families
Real-time alerts
If needed, the clinic area can be divided into separate zones with limited access for certain patients using beacons. The patient wandering system also provides opportunities to determine the curfew for study rooms and other spots. If a patient exits the building or steps outside their designated area, the wander alert system promptly notifies medical staff. These real-time alerts enable the team to respond quickly, locate the patient, and provide the necessary assistance to guide them safely back to their room.
Features:
- Providing personalized notifications based on the location of a patient;
- Giving an alarm signal in case of wandering;
- Remotely calling a doctor or nurse (known as the “emergency button”).
Expected benefits:
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Improving the level of patient safety
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Responding to emergencies on time
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Preventing emergencies associated with patients leaving the territory of the medical facility
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Reducing the time spent on looking for patients
F.A.Q
Navigine’s solution uses real-time indoor positioning technology to monitor patients' movements. Patients wear tags, such as wristbands or badges, that communicate with beacons installed throughout the facility, enabling staff to track their location and prevent wandering.
The system instantly sends alerts to staff via smartphones or desktop interfaces whenever a patient enters a restricted zone. This allows for quick responses and ensures the patient’s safety.
Navigine’s solution integrates seamlessly with hospital IT systems, including patient management platforms, through APIs. It is designed to work alongside existing infrastructure for smooth implementation and operation.
Patient data is anonymized and securely stored. The system only tracks location for safety purposes and complies with data protection regulations to safeguard privacy. For more details, here’s a link to an article diving deeper into Navigine’s data security protocols: How Navigine Ensures Data Privacy and GDPR Compliance.
The system requires wearable tags (e.g., wristbands), beacons installed throughout the facility, and a centralized interface for monitoring. Navigine provides a detailed digital map for real-time tracking and assists with the setup to ens2ure seamless operation.
