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A new wifi-based nurse call system promises to offer increased flexibility and certainty for residents. Beverley Head reports.

Anglican Retirement Villages and UnitingCare have emerged as two early adopters of a new Australian-developed WiFi-based wireless nurse call system.

Wireless nurse call systems have been available for some time, generally using proprietary equipment for that sole purpose. The recent release of Questek’s WiFi-based nurse call system however, allows aged care facilities to piggyback the system over a WiFi wireless network. This can be used to run multiple applications, such as care programs or medication management, promising both cost savings and easier systems design and management.

Bart Williams is general manager of Questek Australia, which has developed nurse call systems for over a quarter of a century. By law, all aged care facilities must have a nurse call system that residents can use, but in the past most of these have been hard wired to physical networks.

While the bell-next-to-the-bed model has been extremely valuable, hard wired systems don’t offer much in the way of flexibility or additional functionality. To refurbish or remodel a room often requires cables to be ripped out and replaced.

Because Questek’s WiFi-based system is wireless the end point units can be simply relocated, or even offered as a pendant – and, when overlayed with geospatial mapping software, can also serve as resident locators.

According to Williams, while there have been wireless nurse call systems in the past, “they were really a glorified garage door opener”. He claims that some aged care facilities which installed the systems actually did find that the system would be triggered when next door’s garage was opened with a wireless control.

Harnessing WiFi networks overcomes that issue.

Wayne Donald is the network architect for UnitingCare’s IT services department and is preparing to roll out a WiFi wireless communications network at a new 100 bed facility in Shellharbour, NSW.

The organisation runs about 70 aged care facilities, providing care for 14,000 people. Although UnitingCare has used some wireless nurse call systems in the past, these were “pretty basic” according to Donald, and are now only used in some of UnitingCare’s assisted living units.

The benefit of moving to a more comprehensive WiFi-based system hinges around the flexibility that it promises, and also the certainty for residents that their call has been registered. Many early wireless systems were mono-directional. They would send the signal for help, but if it could not get through because of network congestion, the resident would have no way of knowing their call had not been received.

The Questek system indicates to the user with visual and audible alerts that their call for help has been received. Residents can either use an in-room battery powered unit (which can be simply relocated as there are no wires) or provided with a pendant (batteries are rated to last for three years of standard use).

Either way, when they use the system, they get feedback to let them know their call for help has been registered. “It’s very very important for residents to have confidence in the staff and their care,” said Donald.

By overlaying a location management layer on the wireless network it’s also possible for nurses who get a call from a resident’s pendant to know that they’re not in their room, but in the TV lounge.

Each of the end points checks in to the central server over the wireless network with its temperature, battery life and status every ten minutes. UnitingCare may also eventually harness that functionality, particularly the room temperature monitoring, and “Setting alarms for when the room is too cold or too hot. This is not just about comfort, but safety,” said Donald.

The system can also be used to monitor fridge temperatures or thermostatic mixing valves, which moderate the temperature of hot water. According to Questek, not only can this temperature monitoring ensure a clear audit trail for accreditation and safety purposes, it can save money by ensuring proper temperature regulation throughout the facility.

The implementation at Shellharbour is intended as a pilot for UnitingCare, which will consider a move to wireless systems as it has to upgrade systems in its other facilities.

Martin Barber is an IT and communications specialist at Anglican Retirement Villages, which provides aged care services to 6000 people in the Sydney Diocese. Its 18 aged care facilities all feature hard wired nurse call systems at present, but Barber says these are pretty unforgiving in terms of flexibility or refurbishment.

“One of the big difficulties is in our older buildings, you can only change the current technology with difficulty as it involves pulling cables,” he says.

ARV’s introduction to Questek’s technology came when it experienced problems with one of its existing hard wired nurse systems. Barber worked with Questek to develop a workaround solution, and in the process learned about the planned WiFi-based system.

As ARV’s corporate strategy involved a gradual move to Cisco supplied WiFi networks, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2011, the ability to piggyback another service on that network was attractive as it meant one network could be used to support multiple applications.

Williams says it was this ability to leverage off existing networks that encouraged the company to develop a WiFi-based nurse call system in the first place. He said that historically nurse call systems could be installed for $1200 to $2000 a bed, but “if we’re not supplying the network the WiFi nurse call is about 20 per cent cheaper”.

By the end of October Barber hopes to have rolled out a pilot of WiFi-based nurse call in 10 to 15 rooms at ARV’s Donnington Court facility. While the wireless nurse call system is the core issue, “the idea that there will be a thermometer in each room is an added value.”

If the pilot goes well ARV will look to using the system more widely and its long term roadmap includes switching on some of the additional functionality such as location based services.

Barber adds that WiFi networks, which are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, operate at different frequencies to devices such as hearing aids or pacemakers and so pose no problem to residents using such devices. While there can be some challenges associated with WiFi network interference from microwaves or lifts, he believes careful network design can overcome such issues.