Pendants and Pushcords
Wired push cords and wireless IoT pendants
The Vitalcare Daisy wireless pendant is optimised for use with arthritic hands and designed to look more like jewellery than a medical device to encourage use. It has approximately 10 times the range of traditional wireless devices and superior building penetration using LoRa based IoT spread spectrum technology. The device has a replaceable battery which typically lasts up to 3 years subject to use, and a replaceable plastic housing so can be refurbished economically to significantly extend its usable life.
The Daisy pendant is configured and software upgraded with a smartphone application provided by Vitalcare and features a configurable heartbeat to inform the infrastructure that it is operating correctly, including its battery level. Combined with the Vitalcloud reporting application, the tethered nature of the pendant reduces testing and management overheads and flags either missing devices or essential maintenance before there is operational compromise.
Daisy pendants support RTLS through native BLE support and has both a call and cancel button. Daisy pendants and wrist alarms are rated to IP67.
Vitalcare Daisy wireless wrist alarm operates identically to the Daisy pendants except that it is worn on the wrist with a strap rather suspended on a lanyard around the neck. Vitalcare clients find that male residents and patients are more likely to wear a wrist alarm than a pendant, therefore encouraging use and supporting safety compliance objectives.
There are two configurations of the wrist alarm. The most common configuration includes the activation button on the face of the alarm and operates in exactly the same way as the neck pendant.
An alternate plastic case is available that does not have the button on the face. This configuration is used in the case of resident with levels of cognitive impairment and living with dementia. It is used in association with Vitalcare’s RTLS technology to alert facility personnel to wandering residents. The alarm wrist strap can be removed and alarm fitted to clothing or equipment.
The wired pendant connects to the call points with a 1.5mm plug and features a 1.5m cable including safety break connection to avoid strangling risk.
Vitalcare still has limited access to its old style 27MHz wireless pendants. These were pronounced end of life around 8 years ago. However, from time to time limited numbers have been manufactured.
Should you require stock of 27MHz pendants, please contact us directly. For clients still using 27MHz system, Vitalcare can now provide an upgrade to the server which supports both Daisy and legacy hardware therefore significantly lowering the cost of a system replacement. For more information, please contact customer service.
The Daisy Duress card is also wireless using Vitalcare’s LoRa based institutional nurse call system infrastructure. It comes in a slim card format with the ability to also attach a traditional credit card sized access or identification card. It features an internal rechargeable battery and has a battery life of many months subject to use.
Duress is signalled by the simultaneous pressing of two buttons on the device. RTLS is provided in the Daisy Duress Card providing an option of both silent and audible alerts to any or all notification devices on the nurse call system including LCD annunciator displays, pagers, smartphones and DECT phones. The duress message identifies the wearer and location. Duress alerts can also be provided to the Rosie call centre.
The personal medical alarm is typically activated by a resident pressing a button on the alarm when they were feeling unwell. Using the mobile phone network, the device connects to the Rosie call centre and the wearer is then speaking to a live operator. The Rosie operator is trained to carry out a triage process and then provide the necessary help. This usually involves sending an ambulance to the wearers location.
The Rosie personal medical alarms are rechargeable and daily charging is recommended. This is achieved using a bedside cradle or clip on USB cable. Battery life varies between 1 to 3 days subject to location and usage.
Most personal medical alarms can identify their location through the use of GPS (Global Positioning System) by receiving satellite signals and communicating that location through to the Rosie call centre using the mobile phone network. This feature aids the ability for the Rosie operator to send help to the precise location.
The use of GPS also means that the wearer is not limited to just their home location and can travel anywhere with mobile phone and satellite coverage.
Most personal medical alarms include fall detection. Should the device detect that the wearer has had a heavy fall, it automatically activates a call to the Rosie 24-hour call centre in the same way as manually pressing the button. While a very valuable feature, it is technically difficult for these devices to distinguish between some normal activity and a fall. The nature of falls is also such that false alarms are inevitable, and some falls may not be recognised. Fall detection sensitivity can be adjusted remotely by the Rosie operator.
In addition to being used as a personal medical alarm, these devices are also widely used as personal duress alarms for lone and remote workers. Should a lone worker or home care worker find themselves in any form of danger, they can activate the device giving the Rosie call centre their location and the ability to hear what is going on in order to send help.
The devices use mobile phone GSM networks and are typically carried on the Telstra network which covers 98.8% of Australia’s population.
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.