Medical Alert Systems With Fall Detection

The best medical alert systems with fall detection are incredibly reliable. Even so, no system is perfect, and your device may issue a false alarm from time to time.

Preventing falls is important, but not everyone has the resources to install grab bars and zero-threshold showers. That’s where medical alert systems come in.

Detection

A fall detection device is designed to monitor a person’s movements and detect if there are any abrupt changes, such as the body position changing rapidly. If an alarm is triggered, a medical alert center will call the user’s loved ones and emergency responders to make sure they are safe and that assistance is on its way.

A few studies have used mobile devices to capture visual data, such as the inbuilt cameras of smartphones (Zocan et al, 2017). Other researchers have developed physics engines like OpenSim to simulate realistic data for training models that can detect different types of falls.

Personal Alarms The prevailing trend is to use sensor fusion, which involves multiple sensors that work in tandem to monitor the subject’s movement and to detect anomalies. This approach has shown to be more effective than using single sensors that may be unreliable under some conditions.

A major challenge is avoiding false triggers, such as when the system mistakenly believes someone has leaned against a wall or chair. This is why many medical alert systems offer two-way communication, so a loved one can confirm whether it’s actually a fall and get help on its way quickly. Some medical alert companies also offer GPS tracking to allow family members and primary caregivers to track their at-risk loved one, so they can know exactly where they are at any given time.

Alerts

The sensors in medical alert systems that offer fall detection use accelerometers to determine whether a fall is occurring. When the sensors detect movement that it interprets as a fall, they’ll send an alarm to your medical alert company and to your loved ones that you need help. Some providers also include two-way communication, so that a loved one can check in with you to see if the fall detector has caused a false alarm.

Some medical alert companies offer fall detection as a part of their basic packages for no extra monthly cost, but others charge for this feature separately. If you’re considering a system that offers fall detection, make sure to check the monthly costs and look for companies with no long-term contracts or fees to cancel service.

You’ll also want to find a medical alert company that includes a trial or money-back guarantee. This will give you the opportunity to try out their automatic fall detection technology and get a feel for how it works before making your final decision.

Some medical alert systems also have a mobile option for on-the-go protection, so you can remain safe when you’re outside your home. This is an important feature for people who tend to fall often, as it can prevent serious injuries from a fall that wouldn’t be detected by traditional systems.

Notification

Fall detection is a popular feature in medical alert systems, but it’s important to remember that no such system can claim to be 100% accurate. It’s possible for devices to misinterpret certain movements, such as bending forward or getting out of bed, for a fall and trigger an alarm.

A good way to prevent false alarms is to look for a device that requires a manual press of the help button to call for assistance. This will ensure that you get help if a true fall has occurred. In addition, some systems offer two-way communication that allows a monitoring center associate or loved one to check in on the wearer and confirm that a fall has been detected or that the alarm was a false one.

Some medical alert systems have a separate pendant for fall detection while others offer it as an add-on to their at-home systems. Look for a provider that offers a complete range of options to suit your lifestyle. For example, Bay Alarm Medical has multiple systems with added fall detection including a mobile option for aging adults who live in the community or on the go and an all-in-one solution for those who prefer to stay at home. Each system provides round-the-clock protection and clear two-way communication. It’s also helpful to look for a system that doesn’t require landline phone service and instead uses cellular technology.

Response

Fall detection can help prevent medical emergencies, such as fainting or a stroke. It also helps to get emergency responders to the scene quickly, which can be lifesaving. However, medical alert systems are only as effective as the person wearing them. They aren’t foolproof, and they can be triggered by fast movements or by other circumstances, such as going down the stairs too quickly or sitting up. This can result in the device calling an emergency responder or a medical alert button.

While the majority of work on fall detection focuses on accelerometers, visual sensors have also become increasingly popular. However, it is important to note that many of the algorithms developed for these devices do not consider the specific characteristics of different types of falls. As a result, the models generated do not generalize well enough to be applied in practical settings.

One way to address this issue is to use physics engines like OpenSim to simulate customized data sets that mimic the real-world behavior of different types of individuals. This could potentially improve the effectiveness of current algorithms in detecting different types of falls. Moreover, more research on evaluating the performance of these devices in real world situations should be conducted. This would help standardize the evaluation process and allow for better comparisons between devices.