Centralsjukhuset i Karlstad to install Ascom’s quiet calling and personal alarm systems

Nov 4 2009

Creating a quiet and personal healthcare environment is of high interest for many hospitals. Centralsjukhuset i Karlstad (CSK) have now decided to invest in Ascom’s quiet calling and personal alarm system – an order worth nearly SEK 5 million.

“This is an important and significant order for us, and proof that there is a demand for a quiet and personal healthcare environment”, says Jonas Glimdén, Sales Manager at Ascom.

The system will be installed at CSK’s two newly-built wards – a medical emergency ward and a psychiatric ward. The system ensures that all critical information is delivered to the right person at the right time. This in turn increases safety for both patients and staff.

CSK selected Ascom largely on the grounds that they can offer a healthcare environment where the usual beeps and flashing alarms in corridors are replaced by a gently buzzing sound in the handheld units carried by the staff concerned. As well as reducing distracting sounds, the staff becomes more flexible and mobile, as they can send and receive information directly in their portable handheld units. The staff will also be able to provide more personal healthcare, as the calls and alarms from a particular patient are sent to the same handheld units and staff all the time.

“One of the requirements from the customer was that the system should help to create a calm and safe environment. This is what made Ascom’s quiet system very attractive. Another reason for selecting Ascom was that we could also purchase a complete package of staff searching, calling and assault alarms from a single source,” says Leif Fransson, Project Manager at Midroc Electro, who handled the deal.

Ascom systems can be connected to other business systems. This makes it easier for staff to have access to a large volume of information.

“One particular wish from the staff was to have staff searching and an assault alarm in one and the same unit, so that they would always have the alarm with them,” says Fransson.

Staffs receive a calling alarm from patients or colleagues in the form of a text message on their handheld unit. They can receive emergency alarms, fire alarms and lift alarms, and can also obtain information from other people such as hospital porters about a patient’s location, or information about an empty room.

“It is always critical when different systems need to be synchronised with each other. But we have had close contact and reassuring answers from Ascom’s technical people, so we are pretty confident that this will work smoothly,” concludes Mr Fransson.

Source ASCOM