New Technology at KGH Is Improving Patient Safety, Health Authority Says

Kelowna General Hospital is now using AvaSure TeleSitter®, a remote patient video monitoring system that aims to improve patient safety by preventing falls and injuries.

“Our health-care teams strive for continuous improvement in the care we provide, and it’s exciting to see our team at KGH use this new technology to increase patient safety,” said Susan Brown, Interior Health’s president and CEO.

Brown said that they have already seen early success with the pilot project.

“In just two months, there have been more than 2,000 interactions with patients using the TeleSitter which helped prevent falls thanks to the ability to virtually monitor patients,” she noted. TeleSitter is an IV-like pole in a patient’s room that provides live video and two-way audio feeds to a trained staff member who is monitoring from a central screen. In the case that a patient tries to get out of bed unattended, the care aide monitoring the video can ensure the patient gets the assistance they need.

According to IH, up to 10 patients can be monitored at the same time.

KGH’s executive director of clinical operations, Jaymi Chernoff said she’s pleased with how the roll-out of TeleSitter has gone at KGH.

Within 10 hours of monitoring patients, she explained, a care aide was able to provide assistance to a patient and prevent a potential fall from happening.

“Having the ability to virtually monitor patients who may be at risk of falling, means the caregivers who sit bedside and don’t want to leave their loved one unattended, can go home and get some rest,” Chernoff explained.

“The feedback from caregivers has been so positive so far; they are grateful and appreciative of the technology.”

Since initially launching with two devices in January, ten TeleSitters have now been deployed to help monitor patients at the hospital and there are plans to expand the service to additional units. IH said that KGH is the first hospital in the region to implement this technology and the health authority will continue to review the success of the project before expanding to other hospitals.

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