6th May 2013
PRESS INVITATION
Monitoring Patients better through technology
The Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) is organizing a Press Conference on 8th May 2013 to launch the results of one of the projects it funded called PINATA (Pervasive Nursing and Doctoral Assistant). The event will take place at Villa Bighi, Kalkara at 11 a.m. The MCST Chairman, Dr. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the CEO & Vice Chairman Dr. Nicholas Sammut, and the Project Coordinator of the PINATA Project, Dr. Alexiei Dingli will speak during the event.
PINATA provides a patient-centric system powered with Ambience Intelligence Techniques and Semantic Web Technologies. These technologies can be used to monitor the patients’ stay in a hospital, trace down their medical records, monitor their diet, track their movement and detect incidents (such as falls).
The MCST granted â‚Ź 124,975 for this project. PINATA was coordinated in collaboration with St. James Hospital Holdings Ltd which provided important input in terms of the requirements of the medical sector, and was piloted under controlled conditions in a live setting.
Through PINATA, the movement of patients and medical staff is tracked via RFID sensors while an automated camera system monitors the interaction of people within their environment. So if a patient falls from his bed during the night the system reacts autonomously by directing the medical staff towards emergencies in a timely manner and provide them with the information they require on their handheld devices. This ensures that the patients are given the best care possible on a 24/7 basis especially when the medical staff is not around.
PINATA will provide medical staff with handheld devices capable of displaying patient information automatically during critical situations. These devices will also have the facility to remind staff about specific tasks (eg: the time to give pills to the patient), to access records
of past interaction with the patient and to record notes. Furthermore, an automated camera system will monitor the patient and alert staff in case of emergencies.
This is a big advancement in dealing with the increasing demands of an ageing society. PINATA will help to decrease the time wasted on mundane tasks such as filling in forms and looking up patient records. This will hence maximised the time that doctors and nurses can dedicate to their patients. PINATA can also be used to help extend the independent living of elderly people rather than placing them in a retirement house.
The aim is that in the future this will be extended to private homes where the elderly can benefit from this automated system. The research generated from PINATA has been published in various international conferences and journals around the world. Furthermore, the project is also moving on to the commercialisation phase thanks to the funds provided by the MCST.
There will be interviewing opportunities with the MCST Chairman Dr. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the CEO & Vice Chairman Dr. Nicholas Sammut, and the Project Coordinator of the PINATA Project Dr. Alexiei Dingli.