International. Throughout history, technology has been an ally to help optimize processes in various sectors, including banking, security, education, etc. However, the constant transformation of society has given rise to new areas of opportunity for technological development.
In the specific case of the health sector, hospitals have decided to use solutions such as IP video surveillance to protect facilities, work equipment and people, however, this sector has also focused on other important areas of opportunity offered by these platforms.
Smart technology for the benefit of the patient
One of the most important challenges faced by health centers is to ensure the care of patients with the highest quality standards during their stay. Faced with this situation, smart hospitals are currently a trend that will guide this sector. Mauricio Swain, Business Development Manager for Axis Communications in Latin America, mentions that "The integration of technologies such as IP video surveillance has positioned itself as one of the main tools to help this vertical improve its services, take care of its assets and protect individuals who enter the facilities."
The specialist mentions two key benefits of how network video helps make these venues Smart Hospitals:
Surveillance of high-risk patients:
The large number of users, compared to the number of staff available, often limits the good care and physical monitoring of all serious and high-risk patients. In this sense, the integration of network cameras allows them to be monitored remotely, in addition, they are ideal to give a visual follow-up to those who need to be isolated, without the need to put at risk the well-being and health of doctors or nurses. For these needs, cameras with video analytics offer the possibility of remotely monitoring if the person is stable or has suffered a fall, among other behaviors that indicate a risk for them, as they automatically generate descriptions of what happens, as well as their appearance and movements with absolute respect for their privacy.
Improve processes and services:
A reality that is faced in hospitals, are challenges in terms of processes and care. In this sense, the network video helps to monitor the activities of the staff, in addition to compliance with regulations, in order to provide users with specialized attention at the right time. The cameras allow you to know which are the most vulnerable areas, or those with the highest influx of people, which will help you generate an analysis to improve the flow of patients and times in the service. Within the facilities there are also restricted areas where it is essential to monitor to avoid the entry of external people, for example operating rooms, pediatrics, laboratories and pharmacies, therefore, it is suggested to integrate intelligent video intercoms to admit access only to authorized people.
Some success stories
Currently many hospitals have already decided to migrate their analog video systems to IP, this has allowed them to improve their facilities to ensure the safety of people and profitability of business. An important example is Nemours Children's Children's Hospital, which integrated cameras with smart technology to increase health assessment and accelerate emergency response times. Because it is an enclosure focused on serving children, it was necessary a constant supervision of the infants, in addition this integration allowed to create a Clinical Logistics Center, where a team of specialists verifies the vital signs of the patients through a central monitoring platform with live video for each of the rooms.
Another example is the Lee Health hospital, which faced a complex challenge because it has four intensive care locations, two specialized hospitals and more than thirty general facilities, for this reason they decided to integrate network video surveillance solutions, which allowed to improve the security of the facilities, monitor that the interaction between patients and doctors was carried out properly and that the staff complied with the highest standards of health, with the aim of improving the quality of its service.
"Network video solutions for the healthcare sector have always played an essential role in protecting people. However, currently, their apps go far beyond just recording what happens. Many institutions have decided to innovate in infrastructure for the benefit of all, whether with intelligent video, access control, analysis and network audio, they have also found an added value for this indispensable sector in social development, "concluded Mauricio Swain, Business Development Manager for Axis Communications in Latin America.
