Smart Hospitals - Improving the experience for patients & staff
Hospitals are a place designed for treatment and recovery. Why is it then that the hospital environment doesn't make the cut? They tend to be a noisy, busy, chaotic environment that, for many people, induce stress and anxiety at a time when these feelings should be minimised.
If you've ever stayed overnight in hospital, you will know of the challenging task that is trying to get a decent sleep; often, communal wards mean other people snoring, talking, lights on, and if you are lucky enough to have your own room there is the constant beeping of machines, nurses coming to check vitals and waking you up, alarms going off…and the rest. It is a hectic environment that is in operation 24 hours per day. Sleep aids with recovery but ironically, hospitals tend to be one of the hardest places to get a good, full, quality sleep when you need it most.
So how can technology help to make a hospital smart, prioritise patient health and create a better working environment?
After the past year and a bit, we are all too aware of the additional pressure placed on medical staff, often without the pay increase. We can use smart technologies to improve efficiencies allowing them to work smarter instead of harder. It also creates an environment that is optimised for the needs of patients, putting their health and recovery first, allowing them to get a good sleep but also reducing anxiety, waiting times and providing an enhanced level of care.
As demand for smart buildings increases globally, we are seeing what is possible with the right technology and knowledge. Modern technology, smart software and IoT devices create an improved environment that supports the needs of patients and staff, creating a truly human-centric space.
Companies such as Siemens have been developing smart hospitals for a number of years; they leverage data from OT and IT systems to create intelligent environments that support the entire healing process.
Aside from improving the experience for patients and boosting their recovery time, the integration of all technology, disparate systems and devices create one open ecosystem. This saves cost, time, makes the hospital easier to manage and more accessible for relevant staff to control. As a result, it drives efficiencies, improves service and even creates a more sustainable building.
There is a global initiative to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere; at the moment, in the UK alone, emissions from buildings account for almost 40% of total greenhouse gas emissions. The UK has a target to cut emissions by 78% by 2035 (Gov 2021). It is essential that we upgrade old fashioned, unhealthy buildings to help meet this target. Smart software is a great way to achieve this. Software like SmartCore focuses on open, interoperable architecture that easily integrates with traditional infrastructure and modern, IoT ready tech. This is an essential feature in a building like a hospital where budgets are tight, and disruption needs to be kept to a minimum.
One of the most commonly associated components of smart buildings is sensors. We can use both physical and virtual sensors to collect data about pretty much any aspect of your building – the possibilities are endless. We work with licensees to establish their client's goals, understand what they need to track and work out the best, most cost-effective solution. This helps to stop the commissioning of technology that will never be used; it's all about creating a useable solution that will truly be useful.
The ability to use virtual sensors allows us to take existing infrastructure and use it for another purpose. E.g. a door access control could trigger the lights to come on when scanned, or data from this point could be used to trigger maximum capacity notifications, alerting other systems that the ward is full and therefore directing patients to another ward.
PIR sensors can be used in bedrooms and wards to alert staff if someone has fallen or if there is a potentially dangerous movement, such as someone having a fit. It can also be used to trigger UV-C lighting, which disinfects a space when no one is present, ensuring health and safety is a number one priority.
Real-Time Location Services (RTLS) can be used in the wards to monitor and alert nursing staff on the whereabouts of medical equipment and patients. This data can be used to optimise efficiency by having the right patient in the right room, with the right staff and equipment at the right time. This improves the patient flow and improves staff and patient satisfaction (Siemens 2020).
Areas of the hospital can go into 'standby' mode, saving energy when they are not being used but still reacting in real-time if someone walks down a corridor. The light will turn on in that particular area and then dim down and turn off again if there is no other movement.
Light is also a very important element that keeps our body clock in sync. When you think of a hospital, often they are a maze of corridors and wards, not many windows, and often it can be quite disorientating. Your body clock can get out of sync if you spend the day or longer inside a building with no idea what it looks like outside. In addition, lighting within hospitals tends to be one colour temperature and intensity all day and night. Over a prolonged period of time, this can affect your sleep/wake cycle. Lighting is the biggest synchroniser of our natural body clock (or circadian rhythm). Therefore, it can be a very powerful tool to enable improved experience, comfort, mood and ultimately sleep pattern – which, as we have discussed, is essential when you are ill and recovering. It is also important that there is sufficient darkness when patients are trying to sleep; again, this can be hard to achieve as a hospital is in operation 24/7; however, something as simple as an eye mask can be extremely helpful.
Studies have shown that getting quality sleep when you are ill improves recovery time. "UCLA hospitals have undertaken a new initiative to improve the healing process for patients... U Sleep formalises an effort that has been ongoing within individual units at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center to improve the quality and quantity of sleep by reducing nighttime disturbances both in and outside of patients' rooms" (UCLA Health 2018). Poor sleep can also contribute to a weakened immune system, reducing a patient's ability to prevent or fight off infection.
The premise of circadian lighting is that it mimics natural lighting in terms of timing, colour and intensity. This allows the body clock to remain in sync as it is aligned with the natural rising and setting of the sun. Blue light has shorter waves, with wavelengths between about 450 and 495 nanometers; this should be avoided late at night as this range of wavelength is one of the biggest disruptors of our circadian rhythm; it suppresses melatonin, the body’s natural sleep hormone.
This technology empowers patients too; it further enhances their experience, which can lead to a more relaxed, calm environment. Smart beds can adjust to your needs, supporting patients with various injuries; sensors within the bed can also alert staff if there is an issue. Smart blinds can be operated via voice activation, a smart switch or a smart device such as a tablet. Lighting can also be controlled in the same way.
Digital patient records and notes allow medical staff to quickly and easily view information, minimising touchpoints by not using paper records; this also avoids records being lost. Updates can also be sent to family members, e.g. 'In operating theatre', 'In recovery', this avoids further panic and distress, prioritising staff time allowing them to get on with tasks instead of liaising with family members.
Real-time data can be used to make a hospital more energy-efficient, determine cleaning strategies based on where people have been, review occupancy analytics and anonymously inform people if they have been in contact with someone who has Covid-19 (or other viruses). A user-friendly dashboard is essential to be able to view and interact with this data, making actionable decisions that make a real difference.
Real-time patient data can also stop nurses from having to come and check vitals through the night, disturbing patients sleep. It can also update a central board for staff to have a quick, high-level overview of all patient’s current health, making tracking multiple patients quicker and easier. Staff can also be notified if someone's vitals change so that they can react quickly.
A smart hospital is a living assent that adapts to patient and staff needs. It should enhance the experience for everyone, streamlining processes and making tasks easier. IoT and smart software pose endless opportunities.