Digital technology has become an important aid in the care services of Tromsø municipality. With Vitalthings' Somnofy, the healthcare service has eliminated unnecessary medication and facilitated better sleep and quality of life for patients. It has also been a key choice from a monitoring and consent perspective, as the solution does not use a camera.
Physical inspections are the biggest change. The patient gets uninterrupted sleep. We have also eliminated unnecessary medication.
Isabell Eilertsen
Lead Specialist, Unit for Habilitation, Care Services Kvaløya
Tromsø Municipality
– The solution itself is brilliant. It has been incredibly helpful for the tasks I have had, says Isabell Eilertsen, Lead Specialist at the Unit for Habilitation, Care Services Kvaløya in Tromsø municipality.
So far, Somnofy has been used in more than 40 municipalities. Now, Vitalthings Guardian H10 is launching—the next generation of health monitoring for municipalities—designed for medical services. Les mer om den her.
How has Somnofy helped address the challenges you face?
– It has primarily helped us at night. It assists with monitoring and provides useful nighttime guidance. We've seen a significant impact because users are no longer woken up during the night. Somnofy's night report allows us to plan better and report on how the patient has slept, so we can anticipate their activity level during the day, for example. We had a patient who slept during the day and stayed awake at night. We were able to detect and correct this pattern using Somnofy, says Eilertsen.
How is Vitalthings' solution different from the way you normally work?
– Physical inspections are the biggest change. The patient gets uninterrupted sleep. We have also eliminated unnecessary medication. One of our users received a fixed dose of nighttime medication at 3 AM. When the user took it, we could log via Somnofy that he was awake from 2:30 AM to 5:00 AM, resulting in very little sleep. In consultation with his primary doctor, we discontinued the nighttime medication, which had a major positive impact, says Eilertsen.
What dilemmas might arise?
Eilertsen highlights privacy and consent as key reasons for using Vitalthings’ solutions.
– We work with people where consent competency needs to be assessed. We often conclude that the guardian must provide consent. Connecting technology and ensuring quality is important, but knowing that someone is monitoring you while you sleep is something that needs to be carefully considered. Another issue is access—who should have permission to view the user? Images and sound are concrete; you can see the person. It feels more intrusive when you can actually see someone, says Eilertsen.
This spring, Somnofy will be replaced by Guardian H10. Designed for medical services, it will address even more needs in municipal healthcare.
Guardian H10 is built on the same technological platform as Guardian M10, without using cameras or body-worn sensors—making it less intrusive in terms of patient safety and user comfort.
– - In the health service, there is a growing need to handle more complex patients in institutions, care homes and at home. With Guardian H10, we have developed a solution that enables proactive, early intervention and replaces manual supervision, as well as safeguarding the user's privacy, says CEO of Vitalthings, Bård Benum.
In the health service, there is a growing need to handle more complex patients in institutions, care homes and at home. With Guardian H10, we have developed a solution that enables proactive, early intervention and replaces manual supervision, as well as safeguarding the user's privacy.
Bård Benum
CEO at Vitalthings
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