Technical Services

Clinical Engineering manages and implements technologies that enable clinicians and care givers to communicate directly with patients and also allow for both patients and their care givers to be safe at all times. Fast, direct communications not only prevent errors in care, it also saves the care givers time and effort during their already busy schedules.

Our expertise lies in helping with the design, development and maintenance of patient communications systems. Our flexibility and ability to customise solutions to meet client's needs and requirements is a critical factor in our success at delivering solutions across the Barwon and south western regions of Victoria.

Nurse call systems

Installed at all of our sites, nurse call systems are an essential part of providing care. These systems not only allow for patients to alert nurses that they require assistance, they also allow nursing staff to alert other staff members that they require assistance, that there is a medical emergency occurring, or there is a security threat.

A basic nurse call system includes a patient call bell, that when a patient requires a nurse and presses the call bell an alert and tone is displayed on an annunciator screen outside of the patients room, alerting all nurses and staff members nearby. Also, when a Code Blue (Medical Emergency) or Code Grey (Security Threat) is occurring and the button is pressed, the call goes straight to switchboard to be announced over the facilities PA system.

Our newer nurse call systems installed are much more advanced than the traditional nurse call systems. They allow for:

• A voice gateway to open between the patient and there allocated nurse to save time for the nurses and to increase productivity and response times
• Specific calls including Pain, Need Water, and Need Toilet calls that allow the nursing staff to immediately know what the patient needs are and what they require.
• Improved workflows through the use of a Workflow Terminal. These terminals allow for Medical Emergency Teams to be called straight from the patient's bedside, room management functions including bed cleaning and patient moves, calling abilities allowing nurses to call specialist doctors, unit managers and supervisors from the bedside, ward-specific functionalities including the activation of emergency transfers that alerts members of the public to move aside.

Wandering patient/resident systems

These systems allow for a small and nonintrusive wireless tag that can be discreetly placed onto a patient that has a risk of wandering from a ward or wing, and alerts their care givers through the nurse call system that the patient is wandering when they pass through a certain point, often a door or entrance. The wandering patient systems are installed in our aged care facilities and ensure that patients don't wander away from the site.

Duress systems

Our duress systems, installed at our mental health and speicalist aged care facilities, give care givers confidence that they are able to get help quickly and efficiently if required if their security or safety is at risk. All staff at the site (Nurses, Doctors, Administrators etc.) have a wireless handset on them at all times. These handsets have an emergency button and also the capabilities of a man-down function, that when activated alerts all other handsets of where the staff member requiring assistance is located, and the type of emergency that is occurring. These duress systems are invaluable to the staff members safety.

Please contact Barwon Health - Clinical Engineering to discuss what technical services we can offer you.