According to a study by the Hans Böckler Foundation, one nurse currently looks after up to 13 people in need of care. The shortage of skilled workers not only means that the daily routine of those working is almost unbearable. It is also impossible to pay attention to the needs of seniors in detail. Since 2014, wissner-bosserhoff has therefore been researching a digital care assistant, which the bed manufacturer presented to the public for the first time in 2020. Its name: SafeSense® 3.
Monitoring movement in real time
At first glance, the new care assistant appears to be nothing more than a thin bed liner. But there is so much more behind it. SafeSense® 3 – consisting of a sensor mat and a signal line – provides caregivers with automatically processed health data. This innovation optimizes information and time management in nursing care. And thus relieves the burden on caregivers.
Using the sensor pad on a smartphone, tablet or PC, caregivers can keep an eye on all residents around the clock. Any device can be used for monitoring, as SafeSense® 3 is compatible with all common operating systems. Among other things, the digital care assistant displays the movement status of the patient in bed. For example, it provides information about lack of movement, restlessness during the night, or shows whether a bed is currently occupied. In this way, problems such as sleep disorders, pain or stress can be identified and treated at an early stage. In addition, the all-day movement profile allows caregivers to see when bedridden patients should be repositioned. This effective positioning management is a great relief for the daily nursing routine and at the same time an innovative tool in the fight against painful pressure sores.
Preventing pressure ulcers
Pressure ulcers are a clinical picture that mainly affects immobile people. The lack of movement causes painful pressure sores on the parts of the body that bear the patient’s own weight when lying down – usually the ankles, shoulders or hips. Additional factors, such as humidity and poor skin care, make seniors susceptible to the condition. SafeSense® 3 helps prevent pressure ulcers: The digital care assistant shows in the movement profile when it is time to reposition and when the humidity in the bed is increased.
On average, caregivers reposition bedridden seniors around eight times a day. This takes just under eight minutes each time. So just repositioning to prevent pressure sores takes an enormous amount of time that caregivers simply don’t have due to the emergency. SafeSense® 3 helps save valuable minutes in everyday nursing care. The system records on the nursing monitor when a repositioning is really necessary.
Another function of the innovation: the moisture assistant, which detects wetness in the bed at an early stage. After all, this is not uncommon. Around 75 percent of all residents in nursing homes suffer from incontinence. Until now, caregivers have only been able to notice these minor accidents when they check the bed manually. By then, however, the skin has often already suffered from the wetness. SafeSense® 3, on the other hand, provides the information digitally and enables rapid action.
Noticing falls in good time
The intelligent nursing bed also provides an overview of the entire bed occupancy. This means that caregivers can see on their smartphone, tablet or PC whether a resident is in bed or not. Resident-specific settings can be made to determine whether the SafeSense® 3 should transmit a bed exit message – i.e. a signal when the bed is vacated – silently or via a call system. This enables caregivers to detect falls in good time, especially in the case of immobile residents who are unable to leave the bed on their own. By reacting quickly in the event of a fall, serious consequences can be prevented.
„We chose SafeSense® 3 because the safety of our residents is our top priority,“ says Eike Jonker, Managing Director of Vechtetal Pflege GmbH, about the fall-prevention benefits of the digital care assistant. A nice side effect: caregivers can effectively prioritize their patrols. This makes duty easier, especially at night and on weekends.
A look into the future
The SafeSense® 3 is an important step forward in the direction of relieving the burden on skilled workers. But the new functions for movement and bed exit monitoring are not yet enough for wissner-bosserhoff. Further functions are planned to relieve the nursing staff.
For example, the sensor mat will additionally record vital data of the residents. This will enable caregivers to view residents‘ breathing and heart rates safely and reliably in real-time transmission. This eliminates the need to measure blood pressure every day, for example, and the increased insight into the values means that medical warning signals can be detected at an early stage.
