Behavioral Health
Maximize safety in behavioral health.
Safety is a paramount concern within healthcare and the nuances of behavioral health patient populations increase the safety risks for both patients and care staff. Safety risks unique to the mental health population include suicide and self harm, violence or aggressive behavior, seclusion and restraint use, and absconding. These directly impact the safe delivery of care and put additional strain and risk on those that care for patients.
West-Com’s purpose-built systems for psychiatric settings are designed to improve patient and staff safety by minimizing self-harm risks, while maintaining the staff’s ability to provide an immediate response to patient calls and emergencies.
Hardware Design
Hardware design and functionality mitigate common risks associated with psychiatric environments and prevents tampering, breaking, swallowing, etc. of equipment and parts.
- Ligature-free/ligature-resistant fixtures and devices
- Heavy duty stainless plates, Faceplate 11 gauge structure
- Flush mount dome lights
- Tamper resistant screws
- Embedded microphone
- Security locks
Virtual e-Sitter
Remote patient monitoring with intelligent video increases patient safety. Easily monitor individual or all behavioral health rooms remotely from a central location or mobile device. Identify when patients may be at risk for a safety event, or self harm. Also a great tool to monitor visits with who may inflict violence toward staff.
Virtual Visits
Remote visits from the care team reduce unnecessary room traffic, especially in instances when patients may be violent. Virtual visits can also be used by family to maintain important face-to-face connections with loved ones during their stay and discharge planning.
Seamless Integration
Integration with other equipment augments safety for patients and staff. Having the ability to call for help if a wall device cannot be reached is pivotal in providing staff safety.
- RTLS badges worn by staff can include a built-in panic button.
- Connect nurse call alerts to Wander Management systems, pumps, bed alarms, etc. for direct to caregiver alerts to patient needs.
- ADA call devices for disabled or elderly psych patients facilitate calls for assistance.
Analytics
West-Com Analytics turns complex data into visual stories so healthcare leaders can make real-time decisions to improve patient care and ensure patients and staff are safe.
- Visualize complete care timelines with Patient Stories.
- Strengthen RCAs with objective data and incident detail.
- Analyze response times to augment patient care and safety decisions.
System Overview
Here is an example of a system layout for a behavioral health patient room. West-Com’s system is designed for flexibility and accommodates a full range of care scenarios, as needs and complexity differ from site to site.
*Nurse call devices are powered through the network cable and are connected to the nurse call network through the dome light.
Special Considerations for Behavioral Health Patient Populations
There may be times when a patient repeatedly calls for a nurse or is continuously pressing the call buttons. Once confirmed there is no medical emergency or need, the continuous ringing of the nurse call alert can be controlled by a key lock device. This can be configured to a custom or preset timer to let staff know the audible alert is off line but can continue to visually annunciate.
Code blue can also be handled differently, if desired. A separate custody alarm system may be actuated first followed by the medical code blue. Dome light states/colors and code blue alarms and annunciations can be configured for different types of care.