36-year-old Rose Njeri is an electrical technician that came up with the idea of bridging the communication gap between hospital personnel and patients.
Njeri's innovation draws inspiration from most hospitals faced with allegations of negligence to its patients when families of deceased patients accuse them of failing to attend to their kin in time.
The invention, known as a central monitoring panel, is a system mounted at the nurses' station interpreting various alerts from the patients.
The system also has a telephone on the nurses' desk that rings to answer the call from the patient's bed whereas the patient's bed has a small speaker mounted on a wall with an extension cord to the patient's bed.
When the bed extension calls, the panel displays the bed number which gives a sound alert and rings the telephone at the same time. The devices are also located in the hallways and the top of the ward entrance which light up when a patient makes the call.
The device also enables nurses to identify calls coming from critically ill patients with the difference in lights displayed.
"The system is unique and very efficient enabling instant feedback and ensuring nurses attend to patients faster,added Njeri on the device.
The idea took Njeri years to develop from when she was in school at the Kenya Polytechnic back in 2011. For her course project, she designed a multifunctional house security system, an idea that the electrician saw applicable in a hospital.
Thereafter, she was approached by a hospital in Nyeri County to install a normal nurse call system, a button found around a hospital bed that allows patients to alert a nurse or other health care staff member remotely for assistance.
However, Rose Njeri wasn't pleased with the system as a one-way form of communication from the patient to the medical staff. She further stated that the medical staff would respond to the patient once they pressed the alert on the nurse call system.
In 2017, the system was ready leading her to register her company, Pawalink Limited, which installs alarm systems.
The company's major marketing channel kicked off her business when Njeri decided to invest Ksh70,000 on a website.
