OLVG and Hillrom make care safer and more efficient by placing smart beds throughout hospital

To make daily patient care easier for doctors and nurses, Amsterdam’s OLVG hospital is implementing 744 new smart beds this year in collaboration with medical technology company Hillrom. This makes them one of the first hospitals in the whole of Europe to make almost full use of smart hospital beds. These new Hillrom beds are, unlike the old ones, entirely electric and have fall detectors and an integrated scale. Important care tasks can thus be carried out more efficiently and safely, giving caregivers more time for direct, person-centered patient care.

“We are extremely pleased that all the beds in the clinics and in the ICU, with the exception of the maternity ward, will be replaced this year with smart beds from Hillrom,” says Marijke van Buren, Nursing Researcher at the OLVG, who is involved in the project from the nursing staff board. “Due to the high workload, it is necessary for us to work as efficiently as possible. The new beds help us do this. This allows us to devote more time and attention to the patient himself.”

Ease of use and comfort

Hillrom’s smart beds are light, electric and equipped with a 5th wheel so that one person can adjust and drive the bed, whereas previously two people had to apply a lot of force. The bed also has an exit position, allowing the patient to get out of bed easily and safely. A function that is very important for the elderly, for example. Van Buren: “The new beds are easy to use. With one push of a button you can make the bed longer, shorter or put it in different sitting and lying positions. In this way, the bed can be adjusted to the individual needs of the patient and nurses can move more freely.”

Improving the quality and safety of care

All smart beds are equipped with a weighing and fall prevention function. The integrated scale displays the weight while the patient is in bed. “Many times we use body weight to dose medication. When it is not possible for a patient to get out of bed, such as with a hip fracture, we used to have to guess the weight. Now we can do our job more easily, more accurately and more safely,” says Van Buren.

The fall detectors in the smart beds help prevent falls in the hospital. Research shows that more than 3 percent of admitted patients have at least one fall during their admission[1]. Old age or certain medication can be a reason for this. Marijke: “When the patient leaves the safe zone of the bed, an alarm goes off in the room. In this way we can be there on time and help prevent falls. Previously we only found out when the patient was already lying on the floor in the worst case.”

OLVG leading the way in smart beds

Hillrom develops smart tools that help healthcare providers perform important care tasks efficiently and safely so they have more time for direct patient care. Francisco Canal Vega, President, Hillrom EMEA: “The OLVG provides medical care to more than 500,000 patients annually and has the largest emergency department in the Netherlands. We are very proud to be able to contribute to the innovation of healthcare on such a large scale. The implementation of these innovative beds throughout the hospital creates a special collaboration and makes the OLVG the leader in Europe in the field of smart beds.”

Next step: ‘connected’ beds

The next step in the collaboration between the OLVG and Hillrom is to link the smart beds to the hospital’s communication ecosystem. This will allow the patient’s weight to be registered automatically in the electronic patient file, for example, and nurses will receive a notification on their mobile devices when a patient is about to get out of bed. Thus, smart beds can increasingly contribute to patient safety and more efficient workflow, leaving healthcare professionals with more time for direct, people-centered patient care.

[1] NHS Improvement. (2017). The incidence and costs of inpatient falls in hospitals.