Early warning system to protect against falls in hospital
Falls in hospitals pose a significant problem for patient safety. In Swiss hospitals alone, tens of thousands of patients fall every year. With its solution for fall prevention and mobility monitoring, the Solothurn-based digital health company Qumea has therefore become an integral part of the Swiss hospital and care landscape.
In hospital, patients are at increased risk of falls due to factors such as illness, medication and unfamiliar surroundings. According to OECD data, there were 10 million falls in hospitals in Europe alone in 2020. Of these, approximately 40% resulted in physical harm, prolonged hospital stays and increased healthcare costs. Sitting guards are often used to protect high-risk patients, but they cost hospitals millions and compromise patient privacy. Other technological assistance systems are also used, but they are readily error-prone, limited to bedside monitoring, require cleaning and maintenance, and are rarely where they are needed.
Privacy-compliant early warning system
The Swiss digital health company Qumea, based in Solothurn, has therefore set itself the task of supporting care with a reliable early warning system to make the patient's room a safe place. An unobtrusive sensor, easily mistaken for a smoke detector, detects movement anywhere in the room. Artificial intelligence analyzes the data, recognizes movement patterns and provides targeted information to caregivers when a patient needs help. The system operates completely anonymously, meeting even the highest data protection requirements.
The system is already in use in over 30 institutions. These include the Cantonal Hospital in Aarau, the Schulthess Clinic and the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel. QUMEA is now implementing its largest installation to date at the Hirslanden Clinic in Zurich. According to clinic director Marco Gugolz, "In addition to a significant reduction in falls, Qumea has also brought about a great deal of safety among the nursing staff and at the same time helped us to significantly save costs on the patient guard side." After completion of the pilot phase, the
Early warning system now rolled out to a total of 5 wards.
Interested parties from home and abroad
But it is not only in Switzerland that interest in the comprehensive early warning system in the patient's room is growing. The Caritas Hospital St. Josef is the first hospital in Germany to use the Qumea solution. Here, the system is mainly used for patients suffering from dementia and elderly patients*. "Especially when these patients wake up at night and get out of bed, the risk of falls increases immensely," says nursing service manager Andreas Riepl, who is responsible for the project.
Further north, in Sweden and Finland, Qumea has already won tenders from renowned hospitals. "Especially in the Nordic countries, the topic of fall prevention enjoys a lot of attention," says CEO and co-founder Cyrill Gyger. In May 2022, Qumea therefore opened a branch office in Stockholm.
Source: QUMEA
