Out of Room Reminder Sheet
This document is for use by staff who have been trained to use Oxevision. You must be trained to use the system. Your Oxehealth Champion can arrange this for you or ask your manager.
What are they?
Out-of-Room alerts are designed to notify staff when activity suggests a person has left their room so that staff may choose to check on them.*
They are most commonly configured to be on at night-time with the exact timings tailored to individual wards.
*Out-of-Room alerts may indicate a person has left their room. Please remember that Oxevision only provides location and activity based alerts and, as a result, may trigger unexpected Out-of-Room alerts in response to other activity, or miss an alert when a person has left their room under some circumstances. You should never rely solely on the system to ensure patient safety and always carry out your usual in-person safety checks. For more information, please refer to the ‘Are there any limitations?’ section below.
How do they help?
Out-of-Room alerts are intended to help staff care for their patients by providing information on their whereabouts which can be useful in helping them determine who may need help or assistance.
Wandering off is a major risk in dementia and other Older Adult settings and can be an early warning sign to a potential assault in psychiatric settings.
How do they work?
Oxevision “sees” movement in the room, much like a human eye does. It knows where critical areas in the room are, including the door. It uses movement through the doorway to determine when someone has left the room. An Out-of-Room alert is then triggered shortly after.
Staff should expect a small delay (up to 40 seconds) between a patient leaving their bedroom and the Out-of-Room alert. This is necessary for Oxevision to build confidence about the location of the person.
The Out-of-Room alert will persist until a member of staff resets the alert. Once an Out-of-Room alert is reset, the room tile will show as “Empty”. Please note that if the room displays "Empty" after the Out-of-Room alert is rest, another alert will not be triggered until Oxevision re-registers the room as being occupied and the person leaves the room again.
Let’s look at an example…
A patient is alone in their bedroom and then leaves through the main doorway:
- Oxevision would show “In Room”
- An Out-of-Room alert would be triggered up to 40 seconds after the patient leaves their room
- Oxevision would then show “Empty” once the Out-of-Room alert has been reset.
Are there any limitations?
We make every effort to ensure the optimal performance of Oxevision. However, it is important to know that as we work on making continuous improvements to the system, there are a few situations to be mindful of. If you’re ever in doubt, you can always reach out to Oxehealth who are available 24/7.
Incorrectly detecting spurious movement
Occasionally, Oxevision may detect movement that hasn’t come from a person and incorrectly believe the room is still occupied even after a person has left their room. This is known as “spurious” movement and could result in a missed Out-of-Room alert. Examples include:
- Movement from curtains, fans or insects
- Movement from changes in illumination such as sunlight, flashing phones, flickering lighting or faulty illuminators
- Movement from swinging doors, flapping fabrics or spilled liquids.
Unexpected alerts when staff physically check on patients
Out-of-Room alerts may incorrectly trigger after staff leave a room having checked on a patient in bed. This could happen if the patient is lying very still and the system does not detect sufficient movement from them during the period after the staff member has left (up to 40 seconds), resulting in an unintended Out-of-Room alert.
Oxevision is designed to ignore these effects as far as possible and configuration changes are possible to minimise the risk of them occurring again. Please contact Oxehealth via the Feedback Form if you spot an unexpected or missed Out-of-Room alert.
Things to remember!
- Oxevision is designed to provide information to staff about whether someone has left their bedroom, however, you should never rely solely on the system for this purpose and staff should remain vigilant
- An Out-of-Room alert will persist until a member of staff resets the alert
- You should expect a small delay between someone leaving their room and the Out-of-Room alert being triggered
- Oxehealth is available 24/7 if you need support and would like to query the performance of Oxevision.
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