Smart technology helps nursing and optimises working methods in the new Kainuu hospital
The staff and patients in the brand new Kainuu hospital received the trailblazing 9Solutions locating safety and communication solution as well as smart technology to make nursing easier and optimise workflows. The hospital admitted the first patients at the end of January 2020, but the construction will continue till 2021.
Terho Pekkala, project manager at the Kainuu social and health care joint municipal authority, and Mervi Lesonen, head of the internal medicine department at the new Kajaani hospital, are both satisfied with the new 9Solutions system.
Waiting room for the new Kainuu hospital
Mobile solutions optimise time management
Both Pekkala and Lesonen feel that especially modern wireless and mobile solutions bring efficiency and flexibility to everyday nursing in the hospital compared with traditional fixed devices. The mobile application to nurses for receiving and processing alarm tasks goes with each nurse, and information about alarm tasks, their status and location is forwarded to all nurses. This enhances managing tasks and delivering help and helps reduce overlapping work.
According to Lesonen, using the mobile phone required practice at first, but now it has become a daily part of nursing. “Phones were previously used only by a few head nurses. Now all nurses have phones, which have, apart from the 9Solutions application, also other applications used for assisting nursing, such as risk value meter, reporting and resource planning,” Lesonen comments.
Patient room in the new hospital
Indoor locating increases safety in hospital environment
The staff at the new Kainuu hospital have also locating wireless safety buttons for calling assistance, a guard or a medical emergency team, if necessary. All patient beds and corridors also have alarm buttons the the patients can use for calling a nurse. Nurses receive the alarms to their phones, where they can also see the location of the patient at once.
Some of the patients have personal alarm bracelets, which can also be used for monitoring dementia patients. Dementia monitoring can be used for creating individual safety zones for dementia patients in the hospital; the system restricts access to certain areas or alarms automatically if the person is leaving a safe zone. “If a person is entering a lift, for example, the system automatically prevents the lift from moving”, Pekkala describes.
Efficient logistics saves time and steps
Apart from the actual nurse call and personal safety system, the 9Solutions system includes several time-saving features for nurses, such as the asset tracking solution for optimising device logistics. Asset tracking displays the location of hospital equipment and accessories, such as beds and wheelchairs, in the building, so that nurses don’t have to spend time searching for them.
Nurses can also see with their mobile phones who is at the entrance and open the door directly with the phone. They can also call to patient rooms with their phones, and this has made their work easier and saved time, because they can ask in advance what is the matter with the patient. Voice connection helps a lot especially during the influenza season when there are many patients in isolation.
New possibilities in cooperation
Several new applications in the system have also been developed together to meet the individual needs of the new Kainuu hospital. One of these is the meal trolley call that has made meal delivery more efficient in the hospital. Meals are delivered from the kitchen of the new Kainuu hospital to upper floors. Meal trolleys are pushed to a lift and the staff gets the information to their phones and fetch the trolley.
Comprehensive, versatile and flexible solution
Terho Pekkala (left), project manager of the Kainuu Association of Municipalities for Social and Health Care, presents the equipment of the new hospital bed.
Apart from the functional benefits of the solution, both Pekkala and Lesonen feel that the comprehensive 9Solutions safety and communication system serves the diverse and changing needs of the hospital finely.
According to Pekkala, versatility and flexibility are among the greatest benefits in the 9Solutions system: “It’s sensible for the overall management of the hospital that we don’t maintain many different systems – instead we have one comprehensive and modular solution that we can supplement with various functions and features and expand its use in cooperation, when necessary”, Pekkala describes.
Close and flexible cooperation ensures success
The installation and deployment of the new hospital-wide locating, safety and communication solution in the new hospital has been a big project, requiring a lot of resources and close cooperation from the customer as well as the system supplier. After the installation, the various use cases of the system were fine tuned in cooperation with the users, and the staff was trained to use the new solution. Cooperation in developing new features still continues.
Pekkala gives special commendation to 9Solutions for the good cooperation: “The whole deployment project has been smooth and cooperation with 9solutions has been effortless. I’m particularly satisfied with the way things are carried forward flexibly, which is highly important in this kind of cooperation where we also look for new possibilities, Pekkala comments.
Also Lesonen thinks that cooperation has been excellent: “The 9Solutions people I have worked with have been wonderful and they have always advised us when we have needed help.”
Second phase is completed in 2021
The scope of the first hospital phase represents two thirds of the overall construction project. Most of the special healthcare polyclinics move to new premises in the second phase, and the second phase premises are deployed in stages between autumn 2020 and autumn 2021.
More information:
Kainuun sote, project manager Terho Pekkala, terho.pekkala(at)kainuu.fi +358 44 7970 269
9Solutions Ltd, CEO Sami Herrala, sami.herrala(at)9Solutions.fi +358 50 3869132
