technology
with the current systems is that they
have a high false alarm rate, and that
has been reported to cause a degree of
nurse fatigue.
With this system, the preliminary
work we’ve done has identified that it’s
substantially more accurate than the
existing systems.
What other measures will you look for?
How else will you gauge AmbIGeM’s
success?
The biggest success indicator will be falls,
and falls injuries. We’re running a project
over some of the wards at both the Queen
Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide and at Sir
Charles Gairdner in Perth. These will be
over a two-year period.
We’re using what’s called a stepped
wedge design, so we start off with all of the
participating wards as controls, so we’re
just collecting data now.
In January of next year, one of the
wards will go live, and then six months
later a second one will go live, and six
months later a third one. All of those
wards will be live at that point. So, over
the two years, we’ll be monitoring when
the wards are inactive or live with the new
intervention, what changes occur with
falls and falls injuries.
We’re also looking at the usability of
the system. We’ve done some preliminary
work that shows older patients are quite
accepting of the technology, but that’s
been in a small study, so we will be
looking at that, plus some qualitative work
looking at the nurses’ understanding and
satisfaction with the system.
It’s not only nurses – one of the other
advantages of this system is that allied
health staff, as well as nurses, will have the
mobile device that will alarm.
So, if there’s a physiotherapist in an
adjoining room and the alarm goes off,
then the physio might be the first person
to attend. That increases the reach of the
potential responders as well.
How easy would it be to translate
AmbIGeM into a residential aged care
setting, or in the home?
The actual technology of the sensor
and the singlet is very cheap, and won’t
be a problem if the study is successful.
The main upfront infrastructure cost is
the sensors in the roof that detect what’s
occurring, the movements that are taking
place. So, if it becomes something that’s
viable to apply to quite a large number of
hospitals and/or residential care facilities,
the cost will clearly come down.
We envisage, particularly with residential
care, that the system will be quite
applicable. It’s particularly relevant for
those patients in hospitals or in residential
care with cognitive impairment.
In terms of homes, that’s a little further
down the road – a bit more refinement of
the technology and system is needed to
do that.
But there’s no doubt that if we can
provide a system that’s able to monitor a
person with, say, dementia, as they move
around their house, so that their carer is
not constantly worrying and having to
keep a close eye on that person, then that
will be a valuable addition. But we will
need to see some changes in the system
to reach that point. ■
The singlet has a small sensor inserted over the sternum. Photo: Curtin University
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