Ensuring the safety of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients through IoT-driven trac

Undisclosed

The owner of several senior care and assisted living facilities in the Northeast was looking for a better way to address a frequent problem: the tendency of patients with memory-related issues to wander. Several recent incidents had raised red flags among the nursing staff, who were concerned about individuals leaving the facility altogether.

Wandering is a common symptom of Alzheimer’s and dementia even at the early stages (60% of Alzheimer’s patients will wander off and become lost at some point). These diseases kill brain cells and destroy people’s memories, most notably short-term recall. Patients forget the last thing they did, so their first impulse is to stand and start moving with the intention of doing something. This is compounded by the fact that individuals with dementia are easily disoriented and become confused in crowded or unknown situations, and they have a strong tendency to want to escape.

The patient tracking system combines facial recognition, GPS location tracking technology and surveillance cameras. Built-in risk mitigation with automated notifications, risk alerts and visual cues help ensure that patients can’t wander past safe zones.

With the system doing the patient monitoring—and sending warnings when patients stray—the nursing staff can devote more time and resources to caring for the residents. And with surveillance cameras helping to ensure patients aren’t being abused, neglected or inflicting selfharm, the liability associated with patient safety is reduced significantly.

The tracking solution is comprised of:

• Sensors
• Gateways
• Connectivity
• Video cameras
• Video recorder
• Video hard drives
• Cloud
• Analytics

• [Data Management - Data Visibility]
  

  As a result of implementing the patient monitoring equipment in all of its facilities, the company believes it will be able to reduce patient safety issues significantly.

• [Management Effectiveness - Risk Mitigation]
  

  As a result of implementing the patient monitoring equipment in all of its facilities, the company believes it will be able to reduce patient safety issues significantly.