Wandsworth Group will demonstrate how its IPiN Ethernet-based nurse call system can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of a mental health environment, with a live demonstration unit for both the core IPiN system, and the IPiN staff safety and patient tracking ‘app’ for Android phones.
The first Ethernet nurse call to be developed in the UK, and reportedly still the market’s only fully-IP based system, IPiN uses ‘the same TCP/IP technology used to develop most other healthcare technologies’, enabling easy integration with DECT telephones, pagers, and patient entertainment systems. The system ‘combines hard-wired reliability with the flexibility of a wireless system’, allowing ease of reconfiguration without the disruption of changes to wiring’. A simple-to-use touchscreen display in the nurses’ station highlights and prioritises calls. For the mental health sector, Wandsworth has tailored the ergonomic IPiN handset to provide a non-ligature nurse call device which ‘cannot be used for self-harm or as a weapon’. The company’s IPiNAndroid phone ‘app’, developed specifically for mental health environments, will also be demonstrated. Using a network of three types of receivers – IR to provide line-of-sight signals, LF to monitor door entry and exit points, and RF to collate data for processing by the IPiN system, the ‘app’ recognises unique user ID badges or tags worn by the medical staff or patients. Staff can activate either a panic button or an emergency call button, enabling the system to locate them quickly, while patients can wear an ID badge so that staff can easily find them.
