High-Tech Adult Diapers Improve Skin Health and Lower Costs for LTC

by | Oct 19, 2012

Sensor technology is being tested for use with incontinence products. Potential benefits of the SmartBrief include cost savings for long-term care facilities and improved comfort and skin health for seniors managing incontinence.

Sensor technology has been applied to the incontinence products category to create the SmartBrief, an โ€œintelligent adult brief,โ€ says Lynn Wilson, Founder of The CareGiver Partnership, a national retailer of incontinence products. It uses a patent-pending sensor and software to alert staff in nursing homes and skilled care centers when an adult diaper needs to be changed.

โ€œSmartBrief technology has the potential to reduce facility costs by eliminating unnecessary product changes, and its data tracking capabilities can make it easier to schedule staff and control inventory,โ€ Wilson says.

According to Gweepi Medical, the company that created the SmartBrief, using their patent-pending technology will result in cost savings for long-term care facilities and improved skin health for those who wear incontinence products. Wireless technology alerts staff when an incontinence product needs changing, and a user-friendly dashboard records data that administrators can use to track product inventory and operational efficiencies across multiple facilities.

โ€œOne of its most important benefits to facility residents and their families is the potential for improved skin health,โ€ says Wilson. โ€œRemoving urine and feces as soon as possible can help prevent skin breakdown and injury, increase wearer comfort and reduce urinary tract infections.โ€

Gweepi Medical, based in Cambridge, Mass., and founded by a biomedical engineer and a software developer, is testing SmartBrief technology in a clinical setting and eventually will offer it to brief manufacturers. In addition, the company is researching cost-effective ways to apply the software to the home care setting.

 

 

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