With Covid-19 (coronavirus) continuing its spread across the globe, medical centers are being overwhelmed. Temporary field hospitals are being set up in, for example, sports arenas and conference venues. These short-term/temporary solutions are necessary to flatten the curve of Covid-19 spread, but they lack basic infrastructure, such as facilitating communication between nurses and patients – which is also a problem when it comes to treating the overflow of patients, some of whom are now in beds lining the corridors of hospitals. Finland’s 9Solutions immediately saw that safe, secure communication between patients and caregivers is going to be vital as we battle the virus, so quickly adapted its existing nurse call system to a plug-and-play model that can be up and running in less than a day.
Nurse Call Lite is 9Solutions’ simply and quickly installed solution that caters to the basic communication needs between patients and nurses. The solution has three components: a nurse call handset, which the patient uses for either urgent or non-urgent calls, a room terminal, which enables voice connection between nursing staff and patient, and a mobile app, which also enables nurses to manage alarms and communicate with the patients remotely.
Here’s how it works in practice
The patient is given a Nurse Call Handset, which has two buttons: one for urgent calls and one for non-urgent calls, such as they need another blanket. The call goes to the mobile app and the staff member who will respond can note that in the app. In other words, the management feature of the mobile app ensures that once a caregiver indicates they will answer a particular call, this will be noted in the app and colleagues can turn their attention to other tasks, enabling the best use of already stretched human resources. Additionally, the room terminal and the mobile app enable remote communication between patient and staff, reducing unnecessary physical contact and thus reducing the risk of contagion.
