Care and Comfort in care homes for seniors
Care and Comfort was part of an innovative collaborative project known as Silver Concept. Working with some fifty or so health care businesses from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France (all members of Clubster Santé), we built a prototype of the senior care home of the future.
The tablet
Working with seniors, we realized that there was a fear of breaking the tablet that could lead to it not being used. This is why our tablet is set in a highly resistant surround that can even withstand being dropped.
The Caregivers interface
For residents who require medical monitoring, nursing and care staff can view, enter, save and update medical data directly from the tablet. Every member of staff (caregivers, nurses, physicians, etc.) has an RFID card that they scan on the tablet surround in order to access the medical interface.
Context-based application access
Using a single sign-on system, the content and data that are accessed are specific to the member of staff who has scanned their card, and to the resident (if the facility’s existing medical application allows)
Examples of medical applications:
As with all our applications, the Care and Comfort application for senior care homes can be customized (in terms of both content and design) as required by the facility.
The resident’s interface
The real added value of our application is the way that we have made it accessible to and usable by seniors, who are not always familiar with new technologies. In terms of display, for example, icons and text are relatively large.
A simple, accessible tablet
Welcome: Some users who are unused to touch-screen tablets may feel lost in the navigation. This is why in the Care and Comfort application for senior care homes, the “welcome” logo is always displayed, regardless of the functionality that you are using currently.
In addition, there are just two levels of navigation.
A set of RFID cards with images:
While we have made every effort to develop an application that is intuitive and easy to use, there may be some seniors who do not feel completely comfortable with it (because they are just beginning to use it). For this reason, we have introduced a unique and innovative system of RFID cards. The resident takes the card corresponding to the desired functionality (their favorite television station, “Games”, “Call Christine”, etc.), places it on the tablet surround, and the functionality is launched automatically.
Presentation of some functionalities:
Drug reminders:
The resident is advised that they have to take their drugs, and clicks to confirm that they have taken them.
Emergency call
The resident feels safe and can make an emergency call at any time from their tablet
Diary
The resident is provided with information about activities arranged within the care home as well as their personal and medical schedule
Reading, radio, Internet, games, etc.
All the functionality that you expect from a touch-screen tablet, tailored for use by seniors
The interactive video conferencing
It is easy to make a phone call from the tablet. The resident clicks on the photo and the call is made automatically
Internal Chat
The individual is connected to other residents of the senior care home through the local social network for older people.
Automation: The resident is given full autonomy and can control their environment (lighting, curtains, etc.) directly from their tablet, without needing to ask for help.
Television: There are two alternatives:
- Watching TV on the tablet (using the touch screen to choose the station)
- Connecting a TV to the tablet. In this case, stations can be selected using a virtual remote control. This helps the resident to get back onto familiar ground.
Presenting the stakeholders in the project:
Lille Regional Teaching University Hospital sets great store by the quality of its facilities and patient comfort, and promotes, develops and supports the innovations of the future in collaboration with health care facilities in the region. In 2014, it was first in the list of the top 50 French public hospitals drawn up by current affairs journal Le Point (read the article [in French] here). Capacity: 3,000 beds.
Clubster Santé is the health care business network for the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France. The network has nearly 200 members and provides a collective framework that encourages dialog and cross-fertilization for innovation. Clubster Santé is a major player in the region’s Silver Economy.
Care and Comfort is the Scotler Group’s medical multimedia brand, based in Northern France and a specialist in IT for residential and health care. It has Microsoft Gold Partner status and bases its solutions on Microsoft platforms for complete integration with hospital IT systems (www.care-and-comfort.com )
Clinifit is a French simplified joint stock company (Société par Actions Simplifiée) comprising eight small and medium-sized enterprises (including Care and Comfort). The Clinifit open ecosystem provides its clients with comprehensive solutions that draw on skills in the organization of care, hospital strategy, and medical fittings and equipment. These areas of expertise combine to form Clinifit’s two lines of business, “organization & results” and “fittings & equipment”. (www.clinifit.eu)
Care and Comfort invites you to the Health-IT Expo in Paris from the 19th to the 21st of May:
TESTIMONY
Professor François Puisieux, Head of Gerontology at Lille Regional Teaching University Hospital:
"The project was undertaken with an inter-care home forum representing professionals from residential care facilities, as well as with user representatives."
Source : vidéo Une Journée dans la vie de Silver E (Youtube)
VIDEOS
« One day in Silver E life and project presentation »
« Silver Concept Opening Day » at Lille Grand Palais
TESTIMONY
Catherine Khalil, Sales Director of Centraco, gives us her view:
"For us as businesses, it was very worthwhile and quite novel to be able to get around a table where businesses, each with its own specific know-how, were sitting side by side with users, who have their needs and preferences for the future and with clients who have their own particular requirements, too."
Source : vidéo Une Journée dans la vie de Silver E (Youtube)
Silver Concept
Background to the “Silver Concept” project:
Silver Concept is first and foremost the story of 50 partner businesses in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, all members of Clubster Santé, who work together to provide a solution that meets the needs of dependent seniors.
Delivered in partnership with Lille University Hospital, the project had a real desire to foster a collective response to needs related to the loss of autonomy and to introduce innovation in relation to user needs.
Since 2012, the businesses in the network have been meeting with key players in the Silver Economy and with users, to provide appropriate innovative products, services and amenities which could find a place in senior care homes in the very near future.
There are two guiding principles for the project:
Spaces, products and services must be modular, to cater for:
- Residents’ health conditions
- The way that these conditions develop (so that a patient can keep the same room throughout their period of residence in the senior care home)
- The resident’s tastes and preferences (customization of their room space, which becomes their home)
The autonomy of the dependent resident, where the real challenge is to maintain or even increase the resident’s level of autonomy
TESTIMONY
Marguerite-Marie, 92, resident of a senior care home in Lille:
"Nothing will replace the human touch of interpersonal relationships. But if technology can also help to break the solitude, I'm in!"
Source : Article La Voix du Nord
