Handheld devices with patient monitoring – an important part of operations at NUS, Norrland University Hospital
Different departments have different needs, as Annica Vermelin, a medical technology engineer at NUS, knows. Annica manages, among other things, surveillance at NUS and looks after each department’s unique needs for communication solutions.
The Neonatal Care Unit has been using the Versity handheld alarm terminals since 2018, and then it was the turn of the Stroke Ward to test the same portable, mobile patient monitoring.
Annica Vermelin, NUS
Having to go to a single monitoring centre is inefficient
“Patients in the intensive care unit need a nurse by their side, so the Philips monitor works perfectly,” she says.
On the other hand, there are those wards where nurses are more on-the-move and their work could be made much more efficient if they didn’t have to go to the same monitoring centre. With this in mind, NUS acquired its first Versity devices in 2018 and has not regretted it for a second.
“We knew we wanted the CareEvent feature that Versity has via the installed Philips app. We need durable handsets that can withstand harsh environments and not break. We haven’t had any problems with our Versity handsets since we got our first ones five years ago. However, one handset has disappeared without a trace. Maybe it went in the wash!” says Annica Vermelin.”
A handset that can handle tough environments
The first department to receive the Versity mobiles was Neonatal.
In the neonatal ward, they were very extensive in cleaning all equipment – even long before Covid-19. Therefore, it was important for them that the handsets are capable of being cleaned several times a day.
Monitoring directly in the hand-held device
The stroke department at NUS wanted to avoid monitoring via a manned centre. The nurses are on the move and it is efficient to have the alarms directly in Versity so that they can better prioritise their work.
The Philips CareEvent function that they have installed on their Versity is far ahead of what the nurses need and Annica says that with these, they have future-proofed the communication solution on the Neonatal and Stroke wards.
Facts*
Norrland University Hospital has approximately 5,000 employees and is a stimulating workplace where medical advances are constantly integrated into care. Employees, researchers and patients design tomorrow’s healthcare together.
The close co-operation with the university gives many professional groups favourable conditions for research. For example, NUS is a leader in the field of stereotactic functional neurosurgery and neonatal intensive care.
*collected December 2023
