SBIR-STTR Award

The proposed effort aims to exploit advances in a new wireless tracking technology Near Field Electromagnetic Ranging (NFER) to improve the quality and efficiency of health care for residents of nursing homes. Our System, Locating the Elderly Overseen by Nurses (LEON), will address several core needs in nursing homes including, a) provide a much needed metric to measure the quality of care within nursing homes, b) enable caregivers in nursing homes to work more efficiently and provide higher quality of care by allowing them to know precisely the location of the senior citizen. c) increase patient safety by providing him or her with an alert button if there is a medical emergency that will immediately provide the location of the distressed ambulatory resident. d) provide a "wander alert" capability for senior citizens suffering from dementia, and e) provide valuable clinical data such as changes in mobility. Existing wireless tracking technologies have tried for decades to provide the above capabilities. A breakthrough in wireless indoor tracking technology can unlock this market, NFER(R). It allows for tracking in complicated and complex environments to 1-3 foot accuracy and with long range of up to 200 ft. In order address the aforementioned issues of concern to the National Institute of Aging, LEON will incorporate several design improvements with the goal of making a smaller, lighter, more durable tag appropriate for use within an assisted living facility. Our healthcare partners Brookdale Place and the University of Alabama, Huntsville will define a proof-of-concept study. This study will focus on monitoring the quality of care provided to the elderly by documenting encounters between healthcare professionals and residents that can be carried out in a Phase II.

Public Health Relevance:
The Q-Track Locating the Elderly Overseen by Nurses (LEON) System will benefit the nursing home elderly and the nursing staff by finding the elderly faster, locate them more quickly in an emergency, reduce wandering, and record the periods of staff interactions. The Q-Track Corporation has a cost effective innovative system to track the elderly in a nursing home that will increase the quality of care and improve the efficiency of the nursing staff. Previous tracking systems were too bulky, expensive, or did not provide sufficient accuracy. The Q-Track team includes Brookdale Place, the largest elderly care provider in the nation and the University of Alabama Huntsville College of Nursing to provide the voice of the customer.

Thesaurus Terms:
Address;Aged 65 And Over;Aging;Alabama;Amentia;Architecture;Area;Assisted Living Facilities;Care Givers;Care, Health;Caregivers;Caring;Clinical Data;Communities;Complex;Dementia;Discipline Of Nursing;Distress;Emf;Elderly;Elderly, Over 65;Electromagnetic Fields;Emergencies;Emergency Situation;Engineering / Architecture;Environment;Equipment;Foot;Frequencies (Time Pattern);Frequency;Geriatric Nursing;Gerontological Nursing;Goals;Health Care Professional;Health Care Providers;Health Personnel;Health Professional;Health Profession;Healthcare;Healthcare Providers;Healthcare Professional;Healthcare Worker;Infusion Pumps;Infusors;Institutes;Length;Location;Marketing;Measures;Medical;Medicine;Metric;Monitor;Movement;Nurses;Nursing;Nursing Field;Nursing Homes;Nursing Profession;Nursing Staff;Nursing Of The Elderly;Obesity;Prov;Patients;Perfusion Pumps;Personnel, Nursing;Persons;Pes;Phase;Prevalence;Price;Provider;Qoc;Quality Of Care;Radiation, Electromagnetic Fields;Reporting;Science Of Medicine;Senescence;System;System, Loinc Axis 4;Technology;Testing;Time;Travel;Universities;Visit;Vital Statistics;Voice;Wireless Technology;Work;Adiposity;Advanced Age;Assisted Living;Assistive Living;Assistive Living Facilities;Body Movement;College;Community;Corpulence;Corpulency;Corpulentia;Cost Effective;Design;Designing;Elders;Electromagnetic Field;Foot;Geriatric;Health Care;Health Care Personnel;Health Care Worker;Health Provider;Healthcare Personnel;Improved;Innovate;Innovation;Innovative;Interest;Late Life;Later Life;Medical Personnel;Meetings;Neglect;New Technology;Nursing Home;Nursing Personnel;Obese;Obese People;Obese Person;Obese Population;Older Adult;Older Person;Patient Safety;Pricing;Prototype;Senescent;Senior Citizen;Treatment Provider;University;Wireless

The proposed effort aims to develop a comprehensive wireless tracking and monitoring system for residents of Long Term Care facilities. The commercial product ElderAlertTM extends Q-Track's real-time location system to track residents, caregivers, and medical assets within a LTC facility. ElderAlertTM directs caregivers to residents who have fallen or have called for assistance. Past position data is used to evaluate resident status and the quality of medical services. Fall alerts can dispatch immediate help to the precise location of the resident automatically without false alarms. Residents can summon assistance remotely giving them more mobility as they move through their Long Term Care facility. In Phase II Q-Track will include Human Subjects, residents and nurses in participatory design and prototyping. Furthermore, we will demonstrate location tracking of residents, staff, and medical equipment in a long term care facility. Our team includes geriatric researchers from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, the University of South Florida, and clinical partners Madison Manor and Sunrise Village.

Public Health Relevance:
Q-Track is developing the commercial product ElderAlertTM to provide comprehensive wireless tracking and location in Long Term Care (LTC) facilities. Leveraging a patented NFER(R) wireless technology, ElderAlertTM will deliver a cost-effective monitoring and paging platform for residents, nurses, and administrators alike. The goal of the project is to decrease response times and the incidence of falls while increasing the overall safety and care in Long Term Care facilities.