10 Questions to Ask Before Working With a Fall Prevention Company - VirtuSense

Fall prevention solutions in long-term care are costly, and often require bulky equipment, costly infrastructure upgrades, and extra staffing to monitor or manage the technology, among other things. With so many considerations and so many companies vying for your business, we’ve put together a list of 10 questions you should ask to determine which company will deliver what you need to reduce falls in your community. 

Along with the questions below, we’ve also included the responses you’d get from VirtuSense.  

1. Is your solution using a camera to watch residents, or something less invasive?
   

   VSTAlert uses an infrared sensor that detects and predicts a resident’s intent to exit their chair or bed. It is 100% HIPAA compliant and because data is processed on the edge device itself infrared data is never transmitted.

2. Does your tech require a resident to wear anything?
   

   At VirtuSense, all it takes is the sensor paired with our AI. Unless you are directly monitoring patient vitals, no wearables are ever needed!

3. Is it reactive or proactive? i.e. Does your tech rely on a negative outcome and use hindsight to fix the problem?
   

   Our products are ALWAYS proactive, meaning we give your staff the correct information to help prevent an adverse event BEFORE the event ever occurs

4. How extensive is the training process for new users?
   

   Most of our users are able to learn how to use our technology in 15 minutes or less. There are numerous online videos that can be accessed at any time to learn at your convenience and your pace.

5. Will I have to hire more employees to monitor/manage your technology, or is it run through AI?
   

   At VirtuSense, our built-in AI is sophisticated enough to quickly analyze the big data created through the machine vision and translate it into actionable insights for your team to help prevent falls.

6. Is your technology proven in the field with statistics and case studies? Please provide examples.
   

   VirtuSense has proven outcomes at John Knox Village and United Methodist Communities 

7. How much equipment is required to use your tech?
   

   VSTAlert consists of a wall-mounted LIDAR sensor and software applications that can be run on a PC and mobile devices. No additional infrastructure is required.

8. How much bandwidth does your tech take up? Does it require infrastructural enhancements?
   

   150 VSTAlert units can be run on a single dial-up modem. Data is processed on the edge device so the only data being transmitted is the alerts themselves.

9. How often does your technology experience false alarms/false reporting?
   

   VSTAlert reduces false alarms by 95% when compared to traditional methods. Alarm fatigue can lead to an increase in falls, so we are constantly working to improve our AI to minimize the amount of false alarms.

10. How many falls with injury have been reported since your technology was implemented?
    

    United Methodist Communities reduced their falls with injury by 71% after implementing VSTAlert. 

Whichever fall prevention company you choose, be sure the answers above fit your specific needs. The last thing you want to do is invest in a program that causes more headaches than solutions.