At the recent MEDICA trade show in Dusseldorf, Germany, Philips Medical Systems was showcasing its CareServant bedside multimedia unit, designed to offer information, communication and entertainment to hospital patients. The company says it gives hospital patients the same accessibility to entertainment and the outside world as they would have at home. Furthermore, hospitals become more efficient by speeding up access to patient services and giving medical staff the ability to access clinical data right at the patient’s bedside.
Bedside home entertainment
When patients are settled in, they can use the CareServant terminal to choose their own package of services themselves, from their beds. They don’t need to use a call center and they can choose the services they want at any time of the day or night.
The CareServant interactive multimedia terminal offers TV programs and telephone facilities. It also enables patients to surf the internet, send emails and chat online, and access audio-on-demand, video-on-demand, spoken books and games. Patients can also use the "butler button" for non-medical requests such as asking for a pastor or closing the curtains. Such requests are forwarded automatically to the appropriate member of staff, leaving physicians and nurses to concentrate on providing medical treatment.
Medical records on demand
The CareServant has also been built to provide up-to-the-minute electronic patient records (including pictures of scans and X-rays) at the patient’s bedside. This means that doctors, specialists and nurses can check and update a patient’s medical data without having to carry around files or equipment, using an ID card to access the information.
