NL Health Services Launches Tele-Monitoring Technology to Enhance Patient Safety
Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Health Services is launching tele-monitoring technology in four acute care hospitals and health-care centres within the Eastern-Rural Zone, starting today, October 21, 2024.
This innovative technology, Halo, is designed to remotely monitor eligible patients and alert care providers to potential health risks. A portable camera, with audiovisual communication, is placed at the patient’s bedside. Halo was developed by University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, Ontario.
“Remote tele-monitoring brings a new level of safe, innovative health care, which provides peace of mind for patients and their loved ones,” said Debbie Walsh, vice president and chief operating officer of the Eastern-Rural Zone of NL Health Services. “NL Health Services is pleased to partner with UHN to bring this service to our communities. This technology helps patients feel supported and closely monitored throughout their health journey, while enabling health-care professionals to provide more personalized, more attentive care.”
Tele-monitoring technology is used in hospitals across Canada. It can support teams in hospital units to quickly identify any changes in patients’ conditions and intervene as needed. This technology has been used reliably in many provinces to reduce falls and adverse events, while also providing patients and their families with the choice of declining this type of supplementary care at any time, if preferred.
“Halo is a tele-monitoring solution that provides a safe, non-intrusive, and efficient method of remotely monitoring patients,” said Justin Young, senior director, Business and Partnership development at UHN. “We’ve been using it for over eight years across UHN sites in Toronto, and it has proven to be a very efficient platform to enhance patient safety and improve the much-needed health human resource capacity. We are very excited to partner with NL Health Services to make this innovative health technology available in their care settings.”
Tele-monitoring will be used at the following NL Health Services’ sites, supporting staff members to provide optimal care to patients:
- Burin Peninsula Health Care Centre, Burin
- Carbonear General Hospital, Carbonear
- G.B. Cross Memorial Hospital, Clarenville
- Placentia Health Centre, Placentia
“This technology will have a positive impact on our ability to provide care for patients,” said Tonya Lane, Director of Medicine Program (Interim) in the Eastern-Urban Zone, NL Health Services. “It will help us offer timely and personalized support to our patients who need closer monitoring. It will streamline our day-to-day workflow, giving us more time to focus on delivering quality and safe care for all patients.”
NL Health Services plans to gradually expand this technology to other sites across the province in the future, starting with the Eastern-Urban Zone. The roll-out will follow in the coming months.
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