Dave Hewitt, Sales & Marketing director at Courtney Thorne, considers some of the key selection criteria when choosing personal safety alarm systems for healthcare environments housing patients with more complex needs – including assessing the risks that such patients present, and their own particular needs. Increasingly, he explains, technologies from different types of equipment are converging – to the user’s benefit.
Where patients are not only a risk to themselves, but are also considered a risk to those looking after them, stakeholders have a duty of care to staff and others who come into contact with them. When technology is used to monitor people in a healthcare facility, there are many areas that need looking at in order to understand how technology could help and/or escalate a situation. Flashing lights and loud sounds can alert a nurse to a problem, but can cause anxiety in some people, making a resolution less straightforward.
In cases where a system to monitor and protect patients is necessary, but nursing and medical staff also need to be protected against potential harm, healthcare providers may end up buying separate systems. Often the risk to staff is secondary to the risk to patients, until a situation arises, and the subsequent ‘duty of care’ staff grievance is investigated.
Management personnel and other staff in mental health, dementia, and custodial organisations particularly may be relatively well versed in dealing with potentially ‘difficult’ situations. Their preparedness may have been boosted by specific training on how to deal with patients with complex mental health needs. Strategies might include limiting lone working, and identifying safe areas, and the means to escalate and alert other staff to problems as they occur.
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