Deltapath Acute is a technological solution to help solve the healthcare crisis.

As the world’s population ages, the pressure on healthcare workers has been increasing. Furthermore, many hospitals and nursing homes struggle to employ enough staff to meet growing demand.

There are many ways technology can be used to help reduce the burden on struggling hospitals,  nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities. One way is Deltapath Acute, an all-in-one solution that integrates with nurse call systems and other critical lifesaving applications while providing different communication modes to improve communication and collaboration between healthcare professionals.

The Healthcare Crisis

Statistics from the World Health Organization show that by 2030, one in six people in the world will be aged 60 years or over. The population increase will divide the time, and attention healthcare staff can devote to their patients. Naturally, healthcare facilities will look to increase their staff numbers to meet the rising number of patients.

While that works for some institutions, many facilities cannot afford more staff. Alternatively, they may be unable to find trained professionals willing to work for long hours and low pay, which have become synonymous with the industry.

According to a report last year by the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) and Home Instead Senior Care, by 2030, there will be a national shortage of 151,000 caregivers and a 355,000-caregiver shortfall by 2040.

A vicious circle can develop, with workers in understaffed healthcare facilities becoming increasingly at risk of experiencing burnout. This situation can affect patient treatment, result in further staff health issues or resignations, and add even greater pressure on staff.

A 2020 PubMed Central (PMC) report found that approximately “one in three physicians is experiencing burnout at any given time”. Not only does this negatively impact the health of the physicians, but it may have a knock-on effect on the quality of treatment for their patients.

How Technology Can Help

Technological solutions are now being turned to as a means of streamlining operations and taking some pressure off staff. Early detection of health issues, which can lead to more effective treatment, is one such way technology is being applied. Integrating different healthcare systems and applications is another way operations can be more efficient.

For example, healthcare is not the first vertical to look to technology in times of crisis. In the travel and hospitality sector, airlines in the U.S. are deploying innovative contact centre solutions to compensate for the staff shortfall. The result is an improved customer experience for those airlines, which is particularly vital when even the most loyal customers are considering switching airlines due to widespread delays and cancellations.

In healthcare, technology is providing a gateway to support staff and patients. Carecom, for example, offers nurse call systems that enable patients to easily communicate their needs to nurses creating a more efficient workflow and enhancing interactions between staff and patients.  Toppan SensingWave is a company that provides contactless sensors that lie under patients’ mattresses to detect patients’ movements and vital signs in real-time, eliminating the need for nurses to make frequent visits to patients’ rooms.

Deltapath Acute

Deltapath released ‘Deltapath Acute’ in 2014. The app, which is now third generation is designed to aid a number of healthcare settings, such as hospitals, senior living, assisted living, hospice care, urgent care centres, clinics, and surgery centres. Its all-in-one healthcare communications solution increases operational efficiency and improves patient outcomes.

The solution centralizes lifesaving information from nurse call systems and other applications on the app, so information is easily accessible and never missed. Deltapath Acute also  combines multiple communications channels for healthcare professionals, including push-to-talk, audio, video, instant messaging, conference calls, medical emergency alert systems, and more.

From a healthcare worker’s perspective, users can access this all-in-one communications system via the ‘Acute’ app, which works on Android 4.1+ or iOS 8.0+.

One use case for this technology is to connect it to sensors on a mattress, which can notify staff of significant changes in a patient’s  vital signs or if the patient has left the bed. In a nursing home, this could help staff quickly assist patients in need while saving time by reducing the number of checks they would need to do on patients who do not require help.

Fukui University Hospital in Japan, a Deltapath customer since 2013, reported that since Acute has been integrated into their hospital, caregivers’ steps were reduced by approximately 25%. As well as saving time, the solution can help to reduce the risk of caregiver burnout.

David Liu, Founder and CEO of Deltapath, said: “Data such as patient’s medical records and labs are dispersed across numerous systems in healthcare facilities such as hospitals. Deltapath Acute consolidates these systems into an app so that healthcare professionals have all the information they need at their fingertips.

Plus, nurses and caregivers typically use multiple devices such as a desk phone, PDA, pager, and  walkie-talkie. As a result, they would need to perform critical actions across four separate devices, plus all the devices would need to be charged, which is inefficient.

We consolidate everything not only on one device but also on one app.

A highlight of our push-to-talk feature is its integration with personal wearable devices, such as purpose-built Bluetooth headsets, which clips on to the tip of your ear so healthcare workers can listen to the conversation through the vibrations while still being able to hear what is happening around them.”

If you are interested in finding out more about Deltapath Acute, you can visit its website.

 



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