29,000 – Current vacant nursing positions in the UK.
222,970 – Projected Licensed Practical Nurse shortage in the US by 2036.
11,000,000 – Expected global shortage of health professionals by 2030.
The numbers don’t lie. Wherever you look, there are not enough nurses. And, with aging populations and increased healthcare needs around the world, the gap is only projected to grow.
We know that staff shortages in healthcare can have a profound impact on patient care. When healthcare teams are stretched, it becomes harder to maintain safe, consistent care. It also disrupts hospital workflows, increases stress and burnout, and raises safety risks for patients.
Video can help secure medical assets
So how can hospitals react to a looming healthcare resource crisis? They will have to make the resources they already have reach ever further. And data-driven video technology can help.
From video security to remote patient monitoring and AI capabilities, the potential for video technology to help hospitals is immense.
Here are some key ways hospitals use video to improve safety, automate routine tasks and give nurses more time for hands-on care.
Protection is a key component of care, so ensuring a secure and safe environment in hospitals is paramount. That is the area that video technology has traditionally been able to help with: the everyday challenges in a hospital that are nonetheless vital to patient safety.
These may include:
1. Monitoring entrances and exits or key transport infrastructure such as parking lots and helipads
2. Detecting unauthorized access and preventing the theft of medical equipment or medication
3. Identifying potential security threats to patients
4. Preventing aggression towards staff
Other safety issues video could help with might be less expected. For example, connecting video technology with air-quality sensors could help detect dangerous substances or viruses and ensure optimal indoor air quality. In another scenario, combining wander alarm bracelets with video could help identify a confused patient wandering the hospital corridors and prevent them from putting themselves at risk.
Video technology will still always be watched by trained medical staff
Maintaining safe nurse-to-patient ratios is a constant challenge. Some patients, including those in intensive care units (ICUs), need continuous observation. Enter remote patient monitoring.
Remote patient monitoring uses video, supervised by clinical staff, to observe multiple patients at once. It helps reduce the workload on nursing teams.
Many monitoring tools also include features that support communication and collaboration across care teams.
Patient falls in hospitals are deemed the most serious safety risk in a hospital. In the US alone, between 700,000 and 1,000,000 hospitalized patients fall each year.
These falls can mean further injury, further healthcare requirements and, if a patient suffers a fall when no one is watching, it can prove fatal. It’s also a costly risk. One study in the US found that the average total cost of a fall was $62,521.
And that’s where Artificial Intelligence (AI) can come in. With high accuracy, AI fall detection sends alerts as soon as a fall is detected so staff can respond immediately.
This allows healthcare providers to intervene quickly, reducing the risk of injury and ensuring timely medical assistance. Secondly, it helps reduce nurses’ workload by automating fall detection, eliminating the need for constant monitoring or minimizing patient room visits. This frees up their time, enabling them to focus on other critical hands-on tasks.
Nurses are able to communicate with patients at the touch of a button
In-person patient interactions are a crucial part of a nurse’s job. These inpatient visits are what differentiate clinical treatment from patient care. But they also increase infection risk and require more resources.
However, with the advent of video technology, healthcare providers can now leverage remote patient engagement to overcome some of these hurdles and still deliver personal patient care.
With video and two-way audio, nurses can check in with patients remotely at any time. This could be to tell them to stay in bed if they are attempting to leave, or to check their condition. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when reducing in-person visits was essential for infection control, remote communication proved to be invaluable.
Video technology can also play a significant role in improving the safety of mental health patients and staff. Mental health conditions often require continuous monitoring and support. With video technology, healthcare providers can, for example, alert security personnel when a patient has become a danger to themselves or others.
In this new era of digital health, protecting patient privacy and data security must be put front and center. To do this, hospitals should implement robust encryption protocols and secure data storage to safeguard sensitive patient information. Hospitals must ensure compliance with the relevant data protection regulations, such as HIPAA in the United States.
Effective use of remote patient monitoring technology hinges on the proper training of healthcare professionals. It's essential to provide comprehensive training to doctors, nurses, and support staff to ensure they can confidently use the video technology and have programs in place for best-practice procedures in case of incidents.
Hospitals also need to encourage adoption among their staff. Demonstrating the benefits of remote monitoring, such as more efficient use of staff resources, increased patient engagement and higher quality patient care, will be crucial to the uptake. So too will ensuring that the technology is user-friendly and integrated seamlessly into their existing workflows.
Healthcare organizations are increasingly recognizing video technology will be needed to meet changing healthcare needs in a cost-effective way. NHS England’s ‘Long Term Workforce Plan’ (June 2023), sets out how remote patient monitoring and AI can help improve productivity and care levels.
And it’s not just an idea for the future. Hospitals are already implementing the technology to streamline processes, enhance communication among healthcare professionals and automate routine tasks, all freeing up valuable time for healthcare staff to provide high quality care.
Milestone XProtect® is our video management software (VMS) that’s used to keep hospitals all around the world safe and secure. But on top of its award-winning security features, it can also help free up time and resources in the hospital, so nurses and doctors can deliver high-quality patient care.
Among its features are:
- Live video combined with two-way audio communication so medical staff can engage with patients remotely.
- The advanced rules engine that allows the automation of events and alarms. E.g., staff can be alerted when motion is detected outside the patient's bed or in the bathroom.
- Privacy masks, which allow operators to obscure parts of the video to comply with privacy regulations.
- Bookmarks to mark key events in the footage and Evidence Lock to prevent overwriting important recordings, so healthcare staff can easily document patient-related incidents.
- Secure sharing internally and controlled sharing externally with restrictions to keep patient-related video tightly controlled.
- Safe viewing from offices, nurse stations, or mobile devices with Mobile and Web Clients.
Meanwhile, the open platform allows the integration of third-party technology, such as:
- AI-driven fall detection alarms that allow staff to rapidly help the fallen patient.
Hands-on care will always be central to nursing
While data-driven video technology can bring undeniable benefits to healthcare, it is essential to remember that it can never be a substitute for the human touch of healthcare professionals. The compassion, empathy, and personalized care provided by medical staff are irreplaceable.
Technology should, rather, be seen as a valuable tool that complements and enhances the work of healthcare professionals. Striking a balance between technology and hands-on care is crucial to ensure the best possible outcomes for patients.
Discover how XProtect can help ease resource pains throughout your hospital here.