Rijnstate and Philips want to work together to ensure that as many patients as possible receive care at home. To make this possible, the parties are developing a virtual care centre, from which healthcare providers can monitor and monitor patients' health both inside and outside the hospital. The parties will enter into a 10-year collaboration.
Healthcare costs are rising rapidly, partly due to the increasing ageing of the population. It is therefore necessary to control healthcare costs, moving care as much as possible close to home. Rijnstate is also committed to achieving this shift, to which the virtual care centre should make an important contribution. Through this centre, Rijnstate healthcare providers will be able to monitor patients' health remotely, so that patients no longer need to be in hospital and can stay at home.
Philips Biosensor
Among other things, the Philips Biosensor will be used for this remote monitoring. This is a sensor that can be stuck to a patient's chest as a plaster. The sensor measures vital functions of the patient, such as breathing, temperature, pulse and blood pressure. Information on posture and body movements can also be collected via the Biosensor.
These readings are transmitted to the virtual care centre being set up at Rijnstate. At this centre, the measured values will be analysed using smart technological solutions, which Rijnstate will select in collaboration with Philips. These solutions deploy smart algorithms to analyse the readings and automatically raise an alarm if preconfigured thresholds are exceeded. This allows Rijnstate to monitor patients remotely and detect deterioration in patients at an early stage. The sensor thus enables timely intervention, despite patients not being in hospital.
Adaptive Intelligence
The smart software being deployed is also known as 'Adaptive Intelligence', a component of artificial intelligence (AI). Adaptive Intelligence is the analytical layer for AI and machine learning applications. A characteristic of Adaptive Intelligence is that not only measured values are transmitted, but these values are analysed and interpreted. This process is fully automatic, so deviations in measured values are immediately noticed and do not need to be analysed manually by healthcare providers first. The resulting insights enable healthcare providers to take immediate action as soon as a deviation is noticed.
To deploy new technology, care must be organised differently. Wim van Harten, chairman of Rijnstate's Executive Board, explains: "It does not work just to deploy a technological solution. It is essential that as soon as a signal goes off a healthcare provider can be at the patient's home quickly. So patient safety is always paramount."
From 650 to 450,000 beds
Rijnstate also points to the possibility of being able to care for many more patients by using remote monitoring. The hospital currently has 650 beds and expects to potentially monitor 450,000 beds in the region thanks to the deployment of smart technology. If Rijnstate proves to need fewer hospital beds thanks to the virtual care centre, the hospital plans to use this space to create larger and technically advanced single rooms.
To identify which patients can be monitored at home, Rijnstate is going to carry out a series of pilots, which will be evaluated scientifically. These pilots include patients with chronic conditions such as COPD or heart failure. By monitoring these patients at home after hospitalisation, the hospital aims to prevent their health condition from deteriorating and to be able to intervene in time. Patients with stomach reduction or bowel surgery may also be eligible for this type of care. These patients currently stay in the hospital for several days after their surgery to monitor their health. By performing this monitoring remotely in the future, patients can go home earlier.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: Rijnstate
Source: Philips (photo)
