“People are getting older and with the shortage of staff in the various healthcare institutions, we have to look at how we can provide care even more efficiently. Which patient goes to Intensive Care after the operation, who can go to the nursing ward and who can even go home earlier?” explains Arthur Bouwman (Catharina Hospital), “that means that we have to work together even more intensively, throughout the care process. From the general practitioner, home care to the hospital.”
The FORSEE project
In hospitals, a high percentage of unexpected deaths occur in nursing wards. This is related to the limited extent to which patients are monitored in these wards. Surveillance equipment is highly expensive and requires a lot of work from healthcare staff. Moreover, it is not pleasant for patients to be constantly connected to all kinds of devices.
The FORSEE project, a collaboration of the Catharina Hospital and the TU/e, aims to solve these problems with a smart camera that registers heart rate, respiration, temperature and movement, and based on these measurements predicts whether the patient's health suddenly deteriorates. This innovative technology is contactless and therefore does not burden the patient, costs potentially less, and requires less work from healthcare staff. Most important, patients can be monitored continuously, allowing timely intervention in the event of acute deterioration.
MEASURE HEAT AND MOVEMENT
A smart camera monitors hospital patients and raises the alarm in case of sudden health problems, often caused by heart disease.
The first results of the study are expected in the summer of 2021. Ultimately, the FORSEE project (2020-2025), an initiative of the Eindhoven MedTech Innovation Center (e/MTIC ), and subsidized by ZonMw, NWO, the Hartstichting and the Dutch CardioVascular Alliance (DCVA), will last five years.