Using Infection Control Technology to Enhance Patient Safety
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010In addition to managing infection hot spots and improving disease containment, Infonaut’s Hospital Watch Live also functions as a safety tool for patient wandering.
The case of patient Wesley Stanko in Lethbridge, Alberta, who went missing and spent three days in a hospital mechanical room before he was found, highlights the importance of better patient monitoring, even within hospital walls.
HWL’s real-time location system (RTLS) technology can track tagged patients to within 30 cm in a hospital environment.
A 55-year-old Lethbridge, Alta., man who was missing in a hospital for three days last summer is no longer able to live independently and has moved to a nursing home.
Wesley Stanko, who has a brain injury and walks with a shuffle, was admitted to the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge last August after suffering a fall. He wandered away from his hospital room and vanished. Three days later, he was found trapped in a hospital mechanical room.
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Police and staff searched for Wesley Stanko from the time he was lost until he was found, said Penny Knawsny, a Chinook hospital spokesperson.



