The dialogue partners
Prof. Dr. Patrick Da-Cruz is Professor of Business Administration and Healthcare Management at the Faculty of Healthcare Management at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences (HNU) and Academic Director of the MBA programme Leadership and Management in Healthcare.
Before joining the HNU, Mr Da-Cruz worked for well-known strategy consultancies in the pharmaceutical/healthcare sector and in management positions in companies in the healthcare industry in Germany and abroad.
Anna Windisch is an experienced MedTech marketer with over 15 years of expertise in healthcare strategy, innovation and business development. She led global interdisciplinary teams at Philips for 8 years, specialising in patient monitoring in the acute care sector. Prior to joining QUMEA as Chief Marketing Officer, Anna spent three years successfully building digital health start-ups. Anna holds an MSc / Dipl.-Ing. (BA) in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing & Strategy from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the Duale Hochschule Lörrach.
Silvana Lamparska is an experienced nurse with over 20 years of expertise in the clinical setting. After completing her part-time Bachelor's degree in Management for Health and Nursing Professions at the HNU, she was initially employed as a consultant to the Nursing Directorate and then worked for 5 years as Division Manager for the Orthopaedic University Clinic and the Centre for Integrated Phase D Rehabilitation at the RKU - University and Rehabilitation Clinics Ulm. During this time, she completed an MBA in Digital Leadership and IT Management at the HNU while working. As Customer Success Manager, she is responsible for the entire technology implementation process, from onboarding to follow-up with the customer.
What is digital prevention in general?
Anna Windisch: By digital prevention, we mean the use of technology, particularly digital solutions such as software, apps and devices, to prevent illness and injury, promote health and improve patient safety. These technologies can be used in various areas of healthcare to identify risks, implement early warning systems and support interventional measures.
What digital prevention services do hospitals and care facilities use to increase patient safety?
Silvana Lamparska: Today, hospitals and care facilities have a wide range of digital prevention services at their disposal to increase patient safety. These offerings range from simple software solutions to complex systems that address different areas of patient care. Examples include digital sensor-based assistance systems in the area of incontinence management and the prevention of falls and pressure sores, which can be found on the market in a wide variety of designs. Another example is the digital patient file. This contributes to the prevention of complications by making important information such as medical history, current diagnoses, medication and allergies centrally stored, readable, on demand, mobile and easily accessible. The additional use of a medication therapy safety tool also reduces the risk of medication errors. Digital smart monitoring systems now also enable continuous monitoring of patients' vital parameters, such as heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation, in the peripheral area of a hospital. These systems can recognise signs of deterioration at an early stage and trigger alarms to alert nursing staff.
One particular area of prevention in inpatient facilities is the prevention of falls. What relevance does the topic of fall prevention have in the German healthcare system?
Silvana Lamparska: Fall prevention plays a crucial role in the German healthcare system, especially in inpatient facilities such as hospitals and care homes. Falls can have serious health consequences and are one of the most common causes of injury in older people and patients with certain health impairments. In Germany alone, more than 200,000 patients fall every year in German hospitals.
In addition, at least 15% of elderly and seriously ill people are hospitalised every year due to a fall in the home or in a nursing home. In addition to the physical and psychological consequences for those affected, fall-related consequences can lead to considerable costs, both through the direct medical treatment required as well as through any subsequent rehabilitation measures and the resulting need for care.
Falls are also a burden for care staff. On the one hand, the effort associated with a fall must be borne by the staff and, on the other hand, a fall also has an impact on the mental state of the nursing staff. All of these negative effects must be actively counteracted with a multimodal approach in order to prevent falls.
What (digital) fall prevention programmes are currently available?
Anna Windisch: There are currently various digital fall prevention programmes. One example is the widely used doorbell mats, which trigger an alarm as soon as they are touched. However, it is often too late by then, as the patient has usually already left the bed. Furthermore, this solution often poses an additional potential hazard in the form of a tripping hazard.
There are also camera-based technological solutions or systems with optical sensors that monitor patients. These, in turn, are not harmless in terms of data protection law, as patients, staff and visitors are all filmed. We therefore distance ourselves from this and measure movements completely anonymously using radar technology. Our artificial intelligence uses the movement data and recognises whether a patient has fallen or is just getting up. In this way, falls can be proactively prevented and privacy is protected in compliance with the GDPR.
QUMEA offers a comprehensive system for fall prevention and mobility monitoring in hospitals and care facilities. How can this system be used? Where is it already being used?
Silvana Lamparska: QUMEA can be used in hospitals and care facilities to improve fall prevention, minimise fall rescue time in the event of a fall and enable mobility monitoring of patients.
Monitoring is discreet, contactless and anonymous via a sensor on the ceiling, meaning that nothing needs to be attached on the patient's side or close to the patient. The system includes the 3D radar sensor, which detects movements in the room, and uses complex algorithms and artificial intelligence to recognise critical situations such as unattended bed exits or falls. Carers are informed in real time so that they can act proactively to prevent falls. The system is also able to detect whether a patient has mobilised sufficiently. This function supports the prevention of pressure ulcers (decubiti).
Anna Windisch: QUMEA is already being used in over 80 different clinics and care facilities, both in Germany and internationally, including the Hirslanden Group, the University Geriatric Medicine Felix Platter Basel, the University Hospital Mannheim, the Balgrist University Hospital and the Schulthess Clinic Zurich. These institutions use QUMEA for fall prevention and mobility monitoring in order to improve the safety of their patients and increase the efficiency of nursing staff.
Thank you very much for the interview!
