Ontex, a leading international provider of personal care solutions, today unveiled the results of a study of its Orizon digital incontinence care solution in a German nursing home.

During February and March of 2022, a field study conducted by Ontex at the Palmscher Garten nursing home in the town of Deizisau, Germany, confirmed similar results to that of their earlier pilot projects across Europe. When trialling Orizon on 10 residents at the German nursing home, the time caregivers spent on incontinence care reduced by a total of 3.2 hours a day saving seven diapers were saved each day. The residents also got at least eight hours of sleep per night because their diapers no longer required checking for saturation. In nursing homes checking residents through the night is a common routine that means many residents are unnecessarily woken and disturbed during their sleep.

Michael Schildt, director of the nursing home, says, “Orizon has enabled residents to live an even more self-determined life and have a more comfortable daily routine. Especially with incontinence, this is very important for well-being. In addition, colleagues had more time for conversations and encounters – that’s also a big advantage.”

The gain in time and comfort came from the fact that leakages were avoided, saving approximately 10 minutes of two nurses per wet bed, incontinence products only needed to be changed when necessary and residents were no longer unnecessarily disturbed at night. It was also noted that no more products leaked during the day or night, eliminating the need for additional bedding changes.

Between February 21 and March 18, 2022, Ontex conducted a field study of its Orizon service with the help of 10 nursing home residents and 25 caregivers at the Palmscher Garten nursing home in the town of Deizisau, Germany. The field study helped provide insights into leakage reduction, ease of use and impact on caregivers and residents. The results of the study showed a 100% reduction in daytime and night-time leakage and an overall reduction in the negative impact of leakage, including the elimination of bed linen changes due to urine leakage.

In addition to Germany, Ontex has run pilot projects in Belgium and France and will soon start pilot project in Italy and the U.K. Ontex plans to launch the digital incontinence management service across Europe in late 2022 and early 2023. Ontex launches the service under the new Orizon brand with its incontinence brands Serenity and iD and will benefit from existing brand recognition and a strong reputation in European nursing homes.

Unlike most of Ontex’s existing incontinence brands and services, Orizon is based on a monthly fee. With the introduction of Orizon, Ontex aims to optimize the overall cost of continence care by reducing waste, linen costs and staff time spent on continence care.

Incontinence: a common condition in the aging population

Incontinence is a very common condition, especially among the elderly in hospitals and nursing homes. Incontinence is one of the most common conditions in elderly care facilities and one of the most important components of facility care costs. Approximately 80% of nursing home residents suffer from some form of incontinence, according to Ontex nursing home order data.