The hospital room becomes the center of a patient’s life when they are admitted to the hospital, regardless of the length of their stay. The same is nearly true for the attending medical staff, who examine the patient, take tests, update records, and so on.
Due to the room’s importance, medical groups are turning to hospital smart room technology, such as voice control, connected apps, and AI-powered computers, to enhance patient comfort while also improving staff efficiency.
- What is Hospital Smart Room Technology?
- Key Applications of Smart Room Technology in Hospitals
- The Tangible Benefits of Smart Hospital Rooms
- Selecting the Ideal Smart Room Technology for Your Hospital
What is Hospital Smart Room Technology?
Smart room technologies are devices and systems that monitor patients and provide comfort during their hospital stay. Many also aid providers and other medical staff to operate more efficiently with their tasks, especially with routine ones like monitoring patient vitals. Comfortable patients are more relaxed and heal faster, while medical staff can provide higher-quality care to more patients without burning out themselves.
Key Applications of Smart Room Technology in Hospitals
The technologies used in hospital smart rooms are numerous. The following five are among the most common ones.
Smart Hospital Beds
Today’s hospital beds can be adjusted for patient comfort as well as make it easier for medical staff to handle the patient. Smart hospital beds go a step further. Thanks to sensors built into the mattress, they can adjust themselves in response to patient discomfort or to prevent bed sores, tasks once handled by nurses. Additionally, smart hospital beds can monitor a patient’s vitals and send an alarm to medical staff if complications arise or if the patient attempts to leave without supervision.
Digital Whiteboard
Hospitals use whiteboards to display a wide range of information, including patients’ medication schedules, discharge information, and pain scores. Traditional whiteboards used markers and had to be replaced every few years due to wear and tear. Today’s digital whiteboards can display the same information without markers and remain usable. The information can be updated on the fly, pulling data from the patient’s electronic medical records (EMR) or directly via the interactive touchscreen.
Voice Control
Patients and medical staff today are tech-savvy and know how to control apps via voice control. In smart hospital rooms, patients can adjust their environment, from room temperature to lighting, with simple verbal commands. They don’t have to leave the comfort of their bed, which is a boon when trying to rest or if they have limited mobility. Nurses, who used to make all the adjustments, are now freed to concentrate on more vital tasks as well as see more patients.
Connected App
Many standard hospital room devices, such as the television and telephone, are now controlled by mobile apps. Patients can access them via their smartphone or a provided medical tablet. They can order food on their own as well as bring up their favorite forms of infotainment. They can stay informed about their medical treatment by accessing their EMR to receive specific updates. And when it’s time to leave, patients can review aftercare and discharge instructions at their leisure. Such greater control can ease patient worries while removing another routine task from the medical staff.
Fall Prevention
In the US, studies show that approximately 700,000 and 1,000,000 patients fall in hospitals each year. Smart hospital rooms can prevent or at least reduce the chances of such falls. Pressure pads in their smart bed – or the bed itself – can alert hospital staff if the patient attempts to get out of bed. Virtual patient sitters monitor high-risk patients remotely using continuous video technology. Artificial intelligence may replace medical staff watching the medical-grade monitors, freeing them for more urgent tasks.
The Tangible Benefits of Smart Hospital Rooms
The benefits of hospital smart room technology are numerous, as they positively affect patients and medical staff:
- Patient problems can be identified earlier, and medical intervention can be undertaken as soon as possible thanks to real-time monitoring by smart beds, virtual patient sitters, and medical wearables.
- Digital whiteboards are clear and easy to read, and they are updated in real-time. Healthcare staff operate more efficiently since they don’t need to spend time trying to understand notes written on whiteboards or log into various computer systems to get information.
- Patients experience less discomfort and anxiety during their hospital stay, as they have greater control over their room, including its temperature and lighting, as well as staying in touch with family members and friends.
- Many routine tasks, such as changing patients’ positions in their beds and adjusting room temperatures, are handled automatically, freeing nursing staff to focus on more urgent tasks and issues.
Selecting the Ideal Smart Room Technology for Your Hospital
Healthcare groups who decide to put smart room technologies in their hospitals should consider the following three questions:
What’s the Technology’s Purpose?
Are the devices primarily to aid the patient, medical staff, or a combination of both? For example, is the smart bed designed to give patients control over their environment? Or are they mainly used to monitor patient vitals, as well as to give staff easier access during examinations?
How Will the Technology Be Set Up?
This question addresses the technologies involved in the hospital smart room. In the example above, the equipment involved may include the smart bed and medical box PCs, with the latter controlling the fixtures. Smart rooms for monitoring may need a camera-equipped medical computer placed on a workstation on wheels. And so on. Staff should do practice runs in the room with physical beds to experience what they and patients would experience in the smart hospital room.
Who’ll be Using the Technology?
This question addresses those who’ll be using the hospital smart room and its devices. Medical groups should look beyond just the patient and their nurses. Will providers benefit from technology? If so, how? What about other medical professionals, such as physical therapists and pharmacists? Visitors, such as the patient’s family members, should also be considered, as they may interact with the technology.
Let Cybernet Computers Power Your Hospital Smart Room Technology
The hospital room plays a key role for both the patient and their medical staff. Smart rooms and their technologies have made hospital stays much more comfortable for patients while allowing staff to continue providing high-quality care more efficiently.
Contact an expert at Cybernet Manufacturing if you’re looking to roll out smart room technology at your hospitals. We offer a range of medical computers, from pre-built all-in-one medical PCs to customized solutions. We’re confident we can work out the ideal solution for your exact wants and needs.