Premiere in Upper Austria

AI gives carers more time for care home residents

From left: Home manager Balazs Kiss, managing director Robert Ritter-Kalisch, Constanze and Andreas Gruber and division manager Andras Harsanyi.

(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

It is an interesting premiere in the care sector: Austria's first fully digitalized retirement home is going into operation in Linz. A new type of assistance system provides information about the residents' condition and saves time on documentation, thus relieving the burden on care staff.

"The technology gives me great security. It hasn't happened to me yet, but if I fall out of bed or fall down, someone will find me straight away," says Emma Schwaiger. The 91-year-old from Waldviertel is talking about the Livy Care digital assistance system, which has been installed in all 120 rooms at the Liebigstrasse senior center in Linz. "It is equipped with numerous sensors. For example, it reacts to calls for help, movements or light in the room," explains care expert Andreas Gruber, who brought the system from the Berlin start-up to Austria. This means that care staff don't have to check every time a resident gets up in the night because the sensors recognize where the person is.

 

System detects falls, calls for help and measures sugar
"Falls or leaving the room are detected immediately, and now a blood sugar sensor has been added," adds wife Constanze. This saves residents and care staff from having to measure their blood sugar three times a day and provides up-to-date data without having to prick the device. However, the device can be temporarily deactivated at any time at the touch of a button.

The systems are now working very well. The exact amount of time they save us is still being evaluated by the university. We can devote this time to the residents. We haven't had any complaints yet, I can only report positive things!

Andras Harsanyi, Bereichsleiter im SZL-Seniorenzentrum Liebigstraße Linz

"We've been working with the new systems for a year now. Of course, it was a change at the beginning, partly because of the strict legal requirements. But now it gives the residents and us nursing staff peace of mind," says Head of Division Andras Harsanyi with conviction. The telecare station from "Docs in Clouds" in Germany also saves a lot of time. "This saves residents trips to the hospital. The ward round takes place remotely and medical data, such as from the stethoscope, is transmitted directly to the doctor."

Major time savings in documentation
A lot of time is also saved on documentation: "Data recorded by the sensors is logged automatically. Other data is recorded, automatically transcribed and then sorted correctly by the AI," says home manager Balazs Kiss. All data and documents are stored on German servers that comply with the strict EU data protection regulations. This was a key issue when implementing the system. "We decided to fully equip all 120 rooms, even if not every resident is at risk of falling - but perhaps the next one will be, and there is a lot more potential in the technology," says Robert Ritter-Kalisch, Head of SZL-Seniorenzentren Linz, with conviction. Step by step, the concept is to be extended to the other homes.