What they say about us

Elderly care professional Marc Ulbrich tells us about the main challenges of incontinence care in nursing homes and how Orizon Smart helped them.

Some time ago we interviewed Marc Ulbrich, a caregiver with over 20 years of experience in elderly care currently working at the Evangelische Heimstiftung Palmscher Garten care home in Deizisau, Germany. We wanted to understand the current struggles when it comes to incontinence care and see how Orizon Smart could help. This institution was in fact one of the first ones to try the Orizon Smart solution during one of our first pilots, so the staff could work with it and see the impact by themselves.
In this extract of the interview, Marc talks about the main challenges on his daily job and how technologies like Orizon Smart can help alleviate them. Have a look at his own words below:

“In the nursing and care industry at the moment, it’s difficult to find new personnel or even to hang on to your existing staff. Employees are leaving because there’s simply too much work, too many tasks and not enough time. If you could better manage these processes by having tools like Orizon Smart for optimising the workflow and, if consequently, you had more time for people and for the residents, then I think you could hang on to your employees and possibly even recruit new ones.

Orizon Smart has been incredibly helpful and specially effective in reducing leakages. This has a big impact on the residents and on us, the staff. For example, when residents on a wheelchair suffer leakages in their incontinence products and they get wet, I need to transfer them onto a bed, which is a physical strain for me, but also for them, because they need to stand up and they often have pain due to problems in their legs. In fact, a wet pad and wet trousers represent a number of different stresses and strains. For me it’s a physical strain and also time pressure, but for the residents themselves it is also a mental strain. They feel humiliated because of their wet clothes. They often tell me things like “Oh, I’m making such a lot of work for you.” And then I say, “That’s not a problem, that’s what I’m here for, to help you.” But of course, for me it’s not always easy. They also probably feel diminished in their sense of self-worth due to the incontinence, which is also visible. And for me, I feel a physical strain, as I said, due to having to transfer them out of the wheelchair onto a bed and possibly also onto the toilet, and then I have to change their clothes. But also the time factor that’s involved in the changing of the clothes and the incontinence material. So much time is lost that I could actually use for other things that I have to do in my daily care duties but the time simply gets lost.

The Orizon solution by Ontex helps us to know when to act so no leakages happen, and we avoid all the burden that it follows, giving us more time each day and a more comfortable work routine.”

Vitaz hospital in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, has recently been testing our Orizon Smart solution given the announcement made by the Belgian ministry of Public Health of a special funding foreseen for innovative tools and technology that can help relieve some work pressure from nurses in hospitals. Want to see some first impressions? Check out the statements below from one of the nurses that used Orizon smart, Marie Blondeel:

During the Altenpflegue 2022, one of the most important trade fairs in the care industry in Germany, we had the opportunity to show demos of the Orizon solution at our exclusive demo lab on the upper floor of our booth. The audience was mainly staff and management from care homes and hospitals and it was a great chance to see the reactions and feedback from these experienced visitors.
Two of these visitors, Jennifer De Vaal and Ute Haiplik, both Intensive Care specialists, agreed to give us an interview right after seeing the demo of how the solution works. Here, they talk about the potential they see in Orizon Smart as an improvement to the management of incontinence care. Enjoy the read!

Interviewer: Hello, you have just taken part in the Orizon demo show, the digital solution to support incontinence care. What was your impression of this innovation?
Jennifer: The first impression is definitely phenomenal. The product itself is very light and soft and the technology is intuitive and easy to use. Patients are unlikely to sweat as much because of the lack of plastic on the outer layer. Phenomenal, definitely great!
Ute: It is skin-friendly and environmentally friendly. Patients and residents will certainly feel comfortable in it. And I see the development is already very, very advance.

Interviewer: What do you think about this technology that informs caregivers on time when the incontinence product is saturated via notifications on their cell phones?
Jennifer: It’s great! This would be a relief, especially on the night shifts. You don’t have to wake up the resident and you can let people sleep through the night. I don’t have to check if the product is full or if the resident is wet. Phenomenal for the residents and an enormous reduction in workload for caregivers.

Interviewer: What time-related effects do you think the use of this solution has on everyday care?
Ute: There is definitely a time-saving there. I think that it gives you more time for other things, such as playing games with the residents, talking to them etc. I don’t have to check every time whether the resident is wet. So, a perfect solution for everyday care.

Interviewer: How do you assess the economic impact?
Jennifer: The initial costs and investments are limited. I’m thinking more in the medium to long term. Product consumption will fall sharply here. Certainly a great saving and a relief right from the start.

Interviewer: Do you also see any physical and psychological relief for the nursing staff?
Jennifer: Yes, definitely for the caregiver, but also for the resident, since you don’t have to access the intimate area as often. I think there are a lot of benefits for both sides.