Rev. on Care & ICT exhibition floor: 'More time for the patient'

trade floor care and ict

Less administrative burden for the healthcare professional and more time for personal attention for the patient. That's what most companies at Zorg & ICT are working on, according to a tour of the exhibition floor.

No administrative burden

Health Cloud Initiative (HCI) goes straight for the highest goal. "We ultimately want 100 percent of a healthcare professional's time to be available for care," explains Pim van der Gulik. "Now a healthcare professional spends 30 percent of their time on administration, while the pressure on healthcare is actually increasing. We think that is too much. By reducing the administrative burden, we hope that healthcare professionals can spend more time doing what they are good at and what gives them energy: providing care."

The unique proposition of the smart software of the Health Cloud Initiative (HCI) platform, according to Van Gulik, is that it integrally links different software labels for the mental health and paramedical care, such as an EHR like CRS, and platforms like Your Care Online and Quli. "These connect seamlessly. By using the latest techniques like AI and by developing care-relieving services, we can ensure that professionals can spend their time."

ICT as water from the tap

Cloud Service Partner RAM Infotechnology wants healthcare professionals to experience ICT like water from the tap, says Pieter Verdult, care account manager. "We provide the care employees' workplace, think network and technical application management."

The IT company does this by providing private and public cloud services from its own data center. Fully customized for hosting and management of applications, mobile workstations and networks.

RAM-IT works for nursing homes and home care, the Public Health Service, youth care and elderly care. It also serves hospitals and laboratories with IT support. "We take care of all the thinking for the care employee, including security," Verdult explains. "This allows them to focus more on their work as healthcare professionals."

Residential Care Technology

Cinnovate's residential care technology contributes to clients' self-reliance while making work for care professionals in elderly and disability care more enjoyable, easier and safer. Alarms and sensors, such as nurse call or a people alarm systems, home automation and smart sensoring are all tracked through one app, explains Sietse Dugour.

"In this way, we ensure that the right information reaches the right employee through other vendors' systems. In this way we offer more independence to clients. If you arrange security and home automation well, for example, they can continue to live independently for longer, intramurally or extramurally. It increases the patient's self-esteem. It also makes the work of the care worker less stressful."

"For example, if a resident gets out of bed at night, you get a notification about that. You don't necessarily have to see the images, but get the data from the sensors. This alerting saves quite a few night rounds, Dugour said. "It makes the work more efficient and easier and gives the healthcare professional more time for personal attention."

Cinnovate works with several partners for this purpose. Recently, the company integrated services with Xelion. Where previously an employee had to use multiple apps to keep track of different systems, now they can do so with one app. Dugour: "Thanks to a new open API, any supplier can log in. As a result, we are already working with 25 integration partners. As a result, information reaches the right healthcare employee."

Brand-independent work
A brand-independent software platform for alarming and communication is also what IQ Messenger has to offer healthcare professionals, says Femmy Reijnders. "All brands have their own protocol. For example, a notification can often only be received on one device or app. We speak all languages, so with us it doesn't matter which system you work on. We can link it. So we are continuously improving alerting processes from the perspective of administrators, employees and, in healthcare, also patients and clients."

With applications like the Graphical Event Assignment, a user-friendly application for alarm assignment, and the Switcher, which helps you switch between systems, IQ Messenger makes life easier for the healthcare professional. Reijnders: "They no longer have to walk around with different devices in their hands and switch between the different notifications."

Exoskeleton

A very different kind of product and service presents Micha Paalman of Yumen Bionics. He is at Care & ICT at T-Mobile with his design for an exoskeleton for patients with Duchenne muscle disease. The company was founded by the patient organization Duchenne Parents Project. It wants to give children with this muscle disease their arm movement back in a natural way. In collaboration with doctors, families, researchers and children with Duchenne themselves, he developed an arm exoskeleton.

Thanks to the rubber bands, they allow the children to move on their own and actually do things beyond the necessary daily movements, Paalman says. For example, they can play ping-pong and piano. A motion sensor in the exoskeleton ensures that the children always remain mobile and know exactly how much they can move without destroying their muscles. It additionally gives caregivers insight into their energy levels and enables remote care. "This gives back the own control on your movement," Paalman states.

For the sensor system, he received support from T-Mobile. Meanwhile, he has also secured funding from a number of health insurers. "Next year we can start delivering the IOT Exoskeleton. Our ambition is to go even further. With muscle weakness, muscles only diminish. That's why we're thinking about exoskeletons with motors, so children can keep moving even then. For now, we give you extra muscle and insight through sensors."