Improving Healthcare Product and IoT App Development for senior living communities

Caring, tenderness and weighty responsibility. We feel like giving them comfort, cheer, and security, especially when they are at home, in their usual cozy atmosphere, or at special medical establishments. Later, new challenges arise connected with limited physical activity, with medical needs due to age, and with a higher risk of emergencies. 

The system Rythmos® is to provide security and a feeling of comfort for elderly people. The main objective of the project is to provide a nurse’s emergency call, to control relocations and access to premises, to detect infection spreading with the help of one portable device.

The Rythmos® system is designed to ensure the safety and comfortable well-being of elderly people or hospital patients. The main goal of the project is to provide an emergency call for a nurse, control relocation and access to premises, and monitor the spread of infections using one single portable device.

The system includes several products:

• Rythmos Wearable is a portable device that can provide data about a person's location both inside and outside premises and make alerts. Thanks to the Call button, a user can get help by simply pressing the device in their hand. The built-in module and the LED visual indicator allow you to accurately locate or prevent a possible fall. The device is waterproof and this allows you to use it even when having a shower.
• A special Rythmos® Community + Wearable Locking Band bracelet has been developed for people of a risk group, with a hard-to-remove strap and a special device for unblocking.
• Calling for help is also possible using Rythmos Pull Cord – a stationary device that allows users to pull the cord and trigger an alert for staff.
• Built-in doors, windows, and movement sensors, which increase the level of additional protection for patients at risk in case of possible escapes. Medical staff needs to control movement, therefore, a program has been created for them to notify about openings of windows and doors in those rooms to which access is prohibited. Alerts on the devices are easily programmable and can warn if an elderly person or a patient is too close to an open door.

This system gives full control and management of data of employees and patients with portable devices and allows you to track information about which devices have been issued and about allowed access zones. This allows flexible setting of access to various doors and areas in the office or on other premises. It is important to note that our system makes it possible to receive messages and notifications in various formats: calls, emails, text messages, and others. It guarantees that all events are reliably and timely reported to employees. In addition, the platform includes intelligent wander management features for senior care, alerting staff when high-risk residents approach restricted areas. 

Confidentiality and data protection is critically important in this area, therefore, the system controls access: only authorized persons have access to relevant information and premises. It is also possible to configure the system parameters for specific needs and requirements.

To solve the problem of system overloading with an increase in the number of users, we divided the data into recording and viewing, which prevented the need to stop all processes to update certain parts of the system and increased work efficiency. Owing to the microservice architecture of the application, which is hosted in the Azure cloud, the application is updated automatically and uninterruptedly.

For the convenience of users, we have made various notification settings that help determine who and how to inform about errors or events, including notifications about non-standard temperature, humidity, and smoke. Employees can install the application on a mobile phone and receive information remotely. This makes it possible to assist people outside a building.

We are not revealing any secret that in the contemporary world, start-ups are important for innovative developments. These young companies offer new and cool ideas for solving complex tasks, but at the same time, they face unique challenges and problems.

Our client was looking for an outsourcing company that would be able to support at all stages of development and make changes to an existing system – starting with the analysis of requirements, the search for a team of specialists, and ending with testing and support. It was very important for them that the partner continued to support them even after the completion of the project, corrected possible errors, and provided support at the stages of product implementation and improvement.

Perhaps for some companies, a long-term relationship with a client may become a challenge, but for us, it is something we are proud of. Together for 7 years we have gone through difficulties and overcome obstacles. Our mistakes and falls have become lessons. And despite all the challenges, our client’s success has become a common victory. This has become the beginning of a trusting relationship.

We used a flexible Agile model. This was due to the specificity of the market in which our client worked — the cyclical nature of processes and tasks. This model allowed us to effectively make constant changes before launching a demo product and distribute tasks when the project reached a more stable stage.

Our role as a technical partner was to develop software solutions and adjust the infrastructure for effective management and processing of data received from sensors. The data passes through the system, where we systematize and analyze them, and then build the appropriate business logic. The results of data processing are displayed on a screen where users can view and manage them. In addition, we were also responsible for controlling the sensors, transmitting commands and instructions to them. Thanks to the coordinated work of our team with colleagues in this project, we have ensured the efficient operation of the system, reliable data processing, and sensor management using advanced technologies and communication protocols.

As a trusted healthcare software development company, Aionys in collaboration with Wirepas, has created the Rythmos® system for Intrex to ensure the safe and comfortable well-being of elderly people and patients of specialized medical institutions. Using .NET, Microsoft Azure, and MS SQL, in addition to MongoDB, users of the Rythmos® system can track information about which devices have been issued and about allowed access zones, configure parameters and, if desired, receive notifications on a mobile phone. With AWS Alexa Skills, we have also added the function of voice interface and determining location in real-time with geographical coordinates (including latitude, longitude, altitude, etc.).

Cooperation with Aionys helped our client Intrex achieve the following results:

• The Rythmos® system has been developed, which ensures the safe and comfortable well-being of elderly people and patients of specialized medical institutions with the functions of an emergency nurse call, controlling movement and access to premises, tracking the spread of infections using a single portable device.
• Due to the use of modern cloud technologies, it was possible to achieve scalability and ensure stability and vertical scalability. 
• The ability for users to receive messages and notifications in various formats – calls, emails, text messages – to fully guarantee the delivery of information about an event.
• A convenient mobile application for obtaining information remotely and providing assistance to people outside the premises.
• Intrex, a certified Alexa smart property provider of solutions for nursing homes, has been honored with a QUALITY award and recognized as the Tech Partner of the Year by McKnight's for their Rythmos 4-in-1 solution.