Interzorg, a long term care nursing organization, and the MedEye medication safety system are one of ten projects selected to compete in the "Nursing home of the Future challenge". With this competition Zorgverzekeraars Nederland (ZN), an umbrella organization of ten health insurers in The Netherlands, hopes to increase adoption of new technology and stimulate the use of existing technology in nursing homes.
A professional jury has selected ten projects to compete for the "Nursing Home of the Future". The projects will start in 2020 with the goal to implement new technology or scale up existing technological innovations. The work is done under the supervision of the consultancy firm Vilans. With this competition, ZN aims to increase and encourage the use of technology in nursing homes. The focus is not on the technology itself, but on the integration of technological innovation with daily work processes.
MedEye for medication safety
Interzorg was the first nursing home to implement MedEye in elderly care. Working In cooperation with the Wilhelmina Hospital, which provides supervisory pharmacy services. MedEye enables nurses to verify automatically, using computer vision, that the correct medications are given to the correct patient at the correct time. With MedEye the nurses can safely deal with prescription changes while using medications packaged in multidose pouches and safely handle double-checking of high-risk medications. The level and complexity of care provided by Interzorg is increasing rapidly and medication safety is top priority.
The competition stimulates innovation
The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport launched the first competition in 2018. The aim was to stimulate the implementation of technical innovations in nursing homes. Eight projects were selected in the first competition. This year, at the request of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, ZN is coordinating the competition. ZN represents the health insurers that purchase long-term care services. The competition fits with the policy of health insurers to stimulate learning, new technology and to promote knowledge sharing among care providers.