The camera spots subtle changes in the face or chest that can indicate possible complications after surgery. About 40 percent of complications and unexpected deaths occur in a regular nursing ward. “We think we can reduce complications and unexpected deaths with technology, such as the smart camera,” says Bouwman. “Currently, we can already monitor a patient’s heart rate remotely. Added to that is breathing, temperature, movement.”
Investigate false alarms
In the coming years, new technology will be further clinically tested. Bouwman and the researchers also look at users of the technology: for example, what is the effect of the camera or smart plaster on the patients. Do they like the camera or not? The advantage of a smart camera for the patient is that they do not wear devices on their body.
It is also being investigated whether the camera is easy to use and does not give false alarms too often and how artificial intelligence can help doctors and nurses interpret the enormous amounts of data that new technologies, such as the smart camera, collect so that they can make better clinical decisions. able to make decisions. “For example, photonic measurement methods are being developed that can be used to measure so sensitively with the help of light that new physiological parameters become available. If healthcare professionals are better supported in making clinical decisions, healthcare can be organized even more efficiently in the right place. By preventing complications and readmissions, this will have an additional impact on capacity and costs.”
Collaborate more intensively
According to Bouwman, the healthcare sector can meet the major challenges with the use of medical technology and, for example, artificial intelligence. “People are getting older and with the shortage of staff in the various healthcare institutions, we have to look at how we can provide care even more efficiently. Which patient goes to Intensive Care after the operation, who can go to the nursing ward and who can go home even earlier?” Bouwman explains, “that means that we have to work together even more intensively throughout the entire care process. From the general practitioner, home care to the hospital.”
Bouwman was at the basis of the clinical implementation of Philips’ Healthdot; the plaster that ensures that patients can go home earlier after surgery. He continues to work at the Catharina Hospital as an anaesthesiologist.