Events

Mintt x Voka "Falls: Prevention is better than cure"

25 May 2023

Falls Prevention Week is an ideal opportunity to remind all health professionals, families and older people of the importance of prevention around the issue of falls. Raising awareness and implementing preventive measures can help reduce the risk of falls.

Mintt has developed an innovative fall detection system for the elderly. The goal of our artificial intelligence is to serve caregivers and people in need of care. We want to create a safer environment for patients in hospitals and for residents in nursing homes and thus reduce the workload of the nursing staff.

3D sensors are installed in the rooms of people at risk of falling. Thanks to motion tracking algorithms, our sensors allow for quick and efficient detection in case of a fall. The sensors provide a good picture of the number of falls because each incident is automatically recorded in the falls register.

Detection is good, but prevention is better. We have found that some older people have particular difficulty getting out of or back into bed. We reacted by adding a "getting out of bed" functionality to our sensors: they detect when the resident takes a risk by trying to get out of bed alone. The solution provides an accurate picture of the number of falls, with each incident automatically recorded in the falls register.

We also believe strongly in analysis. Today, the analysis of fall-related incidents is done through testimonies and discussions with older people and staff, and this is something that should be continued. But we have noticed that something is still missing, namely the ability to analyse fall incidents.

So, it is possible to see the images of the incidents while respecting privacy. It is possible to see what caused a fall incident and therefore, in many cases, how a similar fall can be avoided in the future. In addition, you can clearly see how a person falls, whether they hit their head, how the impact was absorbed, etc. and this facilitates medical and paramedical follow-up.

Lessons learned from testimonies.

In the hundreds of conversations, we have had over the past year, a few things have come up repeatedly.

1) The first thing that came up everywhere was of course the structural lack of staff.

Many hospitals and residential care centers are downsizing their care offer. We strongly believe that technology can provide a solution. The use of medical technology can provide prevention of hospital care but can also relieve pressure on care staff. Healthcare organisations often have limited knowledge of healthcare technology and room to invest, so they do not proactively look for solutions in this direction.

2) There is a lot of uncertainty about how long people stay on the ground after a fall.

Often the help button is not used or is simply not within reach after a fall, so people lie on the ground until they are found. Sometimes, however, they can call for help and are heard. After a fall, the person lies on the ground, injured and disoriented, in the dark, with no indication of time, on a cold floor. On average, as many people fall during the day as at night, but since they often fall in their own room at night and there is also a reduction in carers, they are often found late.

3) In addition, there are doubts about the completeness of the falls register.

After a fall, the call for help button is often not used or is simply not within reach, and people lie on the floor until they are found. However, they can call for help and are sometimes heard.

After a fall, the person lies on the ground, injured and disoriented, in the dark, without any indication of time, on a cold floor. On average, as many people fall during the day as at night, but as they often fall in their own room at night and occupancy is low, they are often found late.

Statistics:

Thanks to feedback from our users, we have obtained some interesting statistics from care facilities. In a nursing home with 80 beds, an average of about 400 falls occur every year. We know this because these incidents are automatically recorded in the falls register. If we compare this data with the data before the use of an automatically filled in falls register, we see that between 1/3 and 2/3 of the falls were not recorded or were not known.

A big difference but in many cases the person who has fallen gets up and the fall is not noticed .... but sometimes the person who has fallen even falls several times before there is an intervention.

The consequences of falls should not be underestimated: rehabilitation, longer hospital stays, additional workload There are not only serious psychological and psychological consequences for the person who has fallen. The time spent by medical and paramedical staff in dealing with falls in nursing homes costs an 80-bed institution some 150,000 euros per year. This includes, for example, the cost of care, rehabilitation, psychological support, and administration.

Recent study Erasmus Hospital.

A recent university study has shown that our data is correct and has also provided initial evidence that technology has earned its place in today's healthcare landscape. The main objective of this study was to compare the number of falls in geriatric wards with the falls reported and indicated by the nursing staff. A second objective was to examine the predictive values and thus the effectiveness. We are pleased with the results and can proudly say that the predictive value of the Mintt sensors is 99% accurate and the predictive value of negative is 96%!