In July 2022, the Belgian Government announced an extra budget of 21 million euros to invest in innovative tools and technology that can help relieve some work pressure from nurses in hospitals.
As an example of how this special funding can be materialized, the Vitaz hospital in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, presented this week to the press our Orizon Smart solution for incontinence. The Belgian minister of Public Health, Frank Vandenbroucke, also came personally to this hospital to see what results this type of technology is producing and to stress the importance of innovation as a key element to help lower the nurses’ work pressure and increase their satisfaction.
The problem of work pressure in nursing is enormous. The staff shortage is really acute, and they are under a lot of stress, so you have to take a whole battery of measures. Both, additional resources to recruit nurses, and of course, technology which is a big part of the answer. And that is why we are making this big investment in technology that improves the lives of nurses and healthcare professionals.
– Frank Vandenbroucke
Public Health Minister of Belgium
During this visit, Marie Blondeel, one of the nurses of the hospital, made a live demo of the solution and explained the key benefits she sees in using Orizon Smart regularly:
What we mostly notice is that we don’t need to disturb and wake up the patient so much. Those are bedridden patients who get really exhausted every time they are being turned around to change their incontinence products. As a consequence, they are often restless and agitated, especially at night.
– Marie Blondeel
Nurse
This solution increases the quality of care, and it also saves us time that we can spend with the patient.
– Marie Blondeel
Nurse
Curious to watch the full reportage? Check it out on VRT News (in Dutch) or on the regional TV for a longer version, TVO (in Dutch).