Dementia Management – Wandering Resident
Utilises a range of in-room sensors to monitor resident activity reporting a range of conditions including activity, inactivity, restrictive locations, and sleep patterns.
Vitalcare has two specialist systems to support facilities with residents living with various levels of cognitive impairment and dementia. These systems are designed to provide a safe living environment by reporting adverse resident behaviour or a resident in a location that puts them at risk.
CRIS is Vitalcare’s behaviour management platform for facilities accommodating residents living with varying degrees of cognitive impairment ranging from confusion to debilitating dementia. The objective of the system is to keep residents safe by reporting activity and behaviour that may put them at risk.
CRIS consists of a range of devices connected to an intelligent Felix room call point. The call point monitors resident activity and applies a pre-configured profile that activates over door lights or alarms to the nurse call system should preset conditions be breached. A control panel outside the room arms and disarms the system and indicates the residents location. A wide range of input devices both wired and wireless are used to provide data to the CRIS system. This includes infra-red movement detectors (IRMA), infra-red sensors, bed mats, chair mats, door and window switches, fall detectors, smartfloor fall systems and computer vision cameras. The devices are configured using Vitalcloud and each room can be configured differently. All devices report activity to the nurse call system which gains an understanding over time of the behavioural profile of the resident. The system can store an unlimited number of profiles, and allocate those behavioural profiles over fixed or customised time periods. A common example of how CRIS is used is the long bathroom alarm. This registers when a resident enters the bathroom and alarms to the nurse call system should the resident not leave the bathroom within a pre-determined time, potentially indicating a fall or distress.
Vitalcare’s Nigel system is used to manage residents with cognitive impairment who may wander around a facility and be at risk of entering an unsafe location, or exiting the facility without supervision.
Nigel uses Vitalcare’s RTLS and localisation functions to register where the resident is using low power Bluetooth (BLE) messages from a tag or wireless pendant worn or concealed in clothing. BLE signals are processed through Vitalcare call points configured with RTLS. RTLS points can also be installed outside the facility to protect against alarm residents who may try to exit facility grounds.
The Nigel system can also interface to most access control systems providing white and black labelling automatically either allowing or preventing residents access through doors. Should a residents profile not permit access through a door, it will automatically lock and a nurse call alarm generated identifying the resident and location.
“My favorite CRIS feature is knowing where the resident is in the room without disturbing them by opening the door.”
(Director of Nursing)
Vitalcare provides nurse call platforms and critical messaging technology engineered to improve communication, workflow efficiencies, patient care and safety for hospitals, aged care facilities, home care and allied health across Australia and New Zealand. Key features of the platform include wired, wireless and hybrid infrastructure with voice assistant, RTLS, open API integration, enterprise reporting and tools, and industry-leading software. The entire network infrastructure is modular and scalable with in-built active redundancy.