Bruyère evaluating smart bed alarm to reduce pressure injuries and falls in long-term care
06/11/2024
In response to a nationwide innovation search by the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) for its Discover + Adopt (D+A) program, one of Bruyère's long-term care homes selected Esprit-ai for an innovative pilot project: Implementing the Esprit-ai Sense™ Smart Bed Alarm solution to assist staff in managing resident repositioning workflows and alert staff when residents are at risk of falling.
Long-term care homes face the critical challenge of ensuring resident well-being and safety, particularly around resident falls and rising costs associated with managing pressure injuries. Bruyère’s Saint-Louis Residence with Esprit-ai is embarking on a groundbreaking nine-month project to address this challenge.
The pilot project will assess the device’s capacity to detect when a resident is in bed or gets out of bed, and their repositioning needs, as well as measure indicators related to movement.
“We’re hoping to see this project optimize staff's time and routines by monitoring the movement patterns of residents,” says Melissa Donskov, Vice-President of Residential and Community Care and Programs at Bruyère. “For example, if a resident who requires assistance is getting out of bed during the night to go to the bathroom, staff can prioritize providing the required assistance to prevent a potential fall.
“In addition, staff will receive alerts when the residents have not moved in bed and will be able to sequence and organize their work accordingly to ensure these residents are repositioned. Staff will receive these notifications on mobile phones as well as on a dashboard.”
“Healthcare delivery organizations across the country are in dire need of funding and support to tackle the pressing pain points they frequently face,” says Shusmita Rashid, Director of Knowledge Mobilization and Strategic Relations at CABHI. “As a solutions accelerator with expertise working with purpose-driven innovators, CABHI developed the unique D+A program to match healthcare delivery organizations with innovators who are equipped to address their challenges. In this case, we are pleased to be supporting Bruyère Long Term Care as it implements and validates Esprit-ai Sense™ Smart Bed Alarm to target its current pain points: Pressure injuries and fall prevention.”
Guy Chartrand, Bruyère’s President and CEO, notes that finding innovative ways to prevent and reduce falls as well as pressure injuries is an example of Bruyère’s commitment to providing compassionate and person-centred care utilizing world-class research to maximize quality of life. “Testing innovative devices and processes to decrease injuries, trips to the emergency department, and hospitalizations is an important part of the work we do at Bruyère, as we strive to enhance resident outcomes and quality of life."
Patrick Tan, CEO of Esprit-ai, says, “We’re proud that the innovative Esprit-ai Sense™ Smart Bed Alarm has been selected to help enhance the capacity of the healthcare system. We look forward to partnering with CABHI, a global solution accelerator, powered by Baycrest, and Bruyère, one of Canada’s leading innovative healthcare organizations, to demonstrate the positive impact the Esprit-ai Sense™ can have on residents’ quality of care.”
Nine-month project
Bruyère’s Saint-Louis Residence interdisciplinary team identified falls and pressure injuries as key challenges and these represent two of their four top priority quality indicators. With the help of Bruyère’s innovation team, the group submitted a proposal and obtained a grant from CABHI to pilot the Esprit-ai™ smart device to help prevent falls and worsening pressure injuries, in addition to hopefully decreasing negative resident outcomes.
The installation, scheduled for June 2024, will include high risk residents from one home area of Saint-Louis Residence. Staff will be trained on the Esprit-ai SenseVu™ solution to monitor micro movement data and establish a baseline for repositioning protocols, with reminder notifications to streamline workflow.
If successful, CABHI will provide funding to support the procurement of Esprit-ai.
(Note: Esprit-ai’s AI technology will not be used in the Bruyère pilot project, and the device will not yet be integrated with the nurse call system during this pilot project.)
About the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation
The Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), powered by Baycrest, was established in 2015 to support researchers, clinicians, and innovators, as they develop, validate, scale, and promote the adoption of innovations that improve the lives of older adults, including those impacted by dementia. CABHI is a unique collaboration of healthcare, science, industry, not-for-profit, and government partners. Through its funding programs and tailored acceleration services, including access to diverse end user groups, CABHI advances transformative aging and brain health innovations across Canada and the world. For more information, visit: www.cabhi.com.