Toch Sleepsense - Innovation Webinar Series

This presentation is part of a webinar series examining health technology solutions to address industry

challenges or issues. The industry issues addressed in this session include fall management, sleep

quality, and real-time health monitoring. The Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is 9.

In this session, the Toch Sleepsense, a bed sensor and sleep monitoring device, was featured along with

presentations on how this device was used in two care facilities. The Toch Sleepsense is a device used

for detecting movement in bed for monitoring sleep. It also records the heart rate and respiration,

providing valuable data to improve care while also reducing the need for physical checks by care staff.

At Langley Lodge, Lisa (Director of Quality, Innovation and Research) has been able to use the device as

a lower cost solution to address their falls management process improvement. While improving their

falls management, they were also able to track different health measures to provide better-informed

care decisions to their residents. For example, there was a resident who had sleep disruptions. Using the

sleep data, they were able to identify the issue and implemented changes that helped improve the

resident’s sleep.

Bethany Care Society had a similar experience where they were able to improve their fall management

while also improving their quality of care that they provide. It was noted that there were some

integration challenges with the existing workflows, such as ensuring that beds remained on the sensors

and aligning staff with the new technology. Once the challenges were addressed, they noticed the

positive impact of the device as they were able to receive accurate data that allowed them to make

immediate improvements to the quality of care and to reduce falls. Although this device has been

implemented in two units, a broader integration of the Toch Sleepsense, along with policy support, are

anticipated to help sustain the benefits of using this device.

During the sessions, there were a few questions such as:

- Were there any challenges in implementing SleepSense within AHS during the initial attempt?

o Response: Good question – I do not believe any other organizations in Alberta has

implemented

- May I ask if there were any challenges anticipated or encountered before initiating the

implementation of SleepSense at the lodge?

o Response: New workflow introduced to staff. Wifi network.

- How about challenges in ensuring regulatory compliance, maintaining confidentiality,

and addressing safety concerns during the implementation of SleepSense?

o Response: We work with organizations to go through the privacy and security

assessment before the implementation. Sleepsense is meant to be used as a

tool and supposed to support to meet regulation requirements

- Were staff using personal phones or organization phones? If personal, any hurdles with

personal/health information visibility on personal phones?

o Response: Organizational phones, not personal

- How were you able to impact quality of sleep by leveraging data from SleepSense?

o Response:

▪ It’s supporting the night nurses. There were other details that were noticed such

as the impact of anti-psychotics on sleep quality.

▪ Having a central computer with the data helped provide info for care

conferences with family and medical staff. It helped with determining whether

certain sleep medications did or did not work.

- Are you able to share a financial ROI that could be used as part of a business case to procure?

o Response: Can share a broad financial analysis.

▪ The cost for the device was affordable and the initial implementation cost was low.

- Is it possible to upload the information/graphs into the HER/EMR?

o Response: Yes, all reports can be downloaded to PDF and uploaded to HER/EMR. We

have integrated with PCC.