SITElite infusion monitor
A PORTABLE DEVICE THAT MONITORS AND DETECTS INFUSION FLOW AND COMMUNICATES TO THE HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS ABOUT THE PROGRESS OF THE INFUSION.
Everyday, a number of patients are admitted to hospitals and these are our loved ones, friends, family and we always expect positive results but unfortunately many die.
Reports show that over 50 patients undergo infusion daily in a single hospital since its considered one of the best ways of drug administration. In developing countries, there is no real/time monitoring of infusion flow hence leading to challenges in infusion therapy for example occlusions incase a patient moves their hand and a nurse is not notified.
Incase infusion gets complete and the cannula is not withdrawn immediately by the nurses, backflow of blood from the patient to the cannula may occur which may lead to death of critically ill patients since current systems are not able to notify nurses and doctors. This is as well attributed to Uganda’s doctor-patient ratio and nurses to patient ratio which is approximately 1:2500 and 1:11000 respectively that has created a very big burden to the nurses hence leading to ineffective physical monitoring.
But what have we done about this?
Our innovation, the SITElite infusion monitor which is a portable device that monitors and detects flow of fluids in infusion catheters and alerts the medical personnel about the progress and errors during infusion. It is made up of two parts;
Detection part; this monitors and detects infusion flow one detecting the infusion flow. It is composed of LDR sensor which detects the amount of light from the LED. The monitoring/detection part is attached to the infusion bag
The communication part has the transmitter, receiver, buzzer and an LED. It alerts the health care providers in form of an alarm using Bluetooth signals; about the progress of infusion and any errors; and it shows the patient number that is affected. It is connected in the nurses’ room. The system uses electricity and batteries as a power supply. Fifteen monitoring devices will be connected to one communication system. The system is designed to use power and batteries in places without electricity.
Our innovation is directly impacting the nurses and doctors in hospitals whose workload will be reduced since they will be notified once infusion is complete or incase of any error.
Our innovation the SITElite infusion monitor will provide real-time monitoring of infusion flow hence it will eliminate incidences that result from back flow of blood associated with physical monitoring of infusion flow.
It will relieve patients the pain that comes with blockages /occlusions that occur during infusion therapy since the nurse will be notified in real-time.
Our innovation will ease the nurses heavy workload (N:P=1:11000 that comes with physical monitoring of a multitude of patients undergoing infusion therapy hence improving efficacy and efficiency of infusion therapies.
Behind the success of this project is a multi-disciplinary team that have encountered various challenges in the infusion therapy. In 2018, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and she was put on infusion therapy of the chemotherapy drugs, one night around 3am there was no nurse on ward, my mother was away preparing for my grandmother food, and my grandmother in her weak body screamed that she was losing her life, I saw blood leave her and entering the infusion bag and their was no nurse to help out, slowly by slowly she lost her breathe and we unfortunately lost her. Since then I was disturbed and traumatized by the situation not until i met a team of young enthusiastic and skilled individuals that were willing to partner with me to solve this problem. This team inludes a qualified
We have carried out market survey in several hospitals and they explained to us what their problem is and how our solution willl be of very much importance since it will alert medical personnel once infusion is complete and it will also reduce the workload of nurses since the device will perform real-time monitoring of infusion therapy.
- Improving healthcare access and health outcomes; and reducing and ultimately eliminating health disparities (Health)
- Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community
What makes our solution innovative is that it provides real-time monitoring of infusion therapy using a system of sensors to monitor and detect infusion flow and it as well alerts medical personnel once infusion is complete using a communication signals from Bluetooth module that wirelessly connect to the doctors and alert them once infusion is complete.
Our target is to reach over ten percent of the hospitals in south western Uganda and this will give us a profit of 15 million shillings in the first year of operation. We also target to reach sixty percent of the hospitals in the whole Uganda which will give us eighty millions shillings.
Our solution uses the LDR which is a light-dependent resistor that changes its resistance when different amounts of light fall on it. They work on the principle of photo conductivity where it gives less resistance in high light intensity and high resistance in low light intensity.
- Robotics and Drones
We are currently 4 people serving this solution and we hope to add more technical experts once we acquire enough funds to take the product forward.
The main barriers that exist are lack of finances to perform product development and this involves acquisition of the components needed for example the Bluetooth modules the sensors, Arduino kits.
We are as well limited by patent registration for our product and this requires a lot of money as well company and product registration
We currently partner with Mbarara University of Science and Technology for research and development, Nasdan international for marketing, Ministry of Health for Device Utilization and authorization, Fablab Mbarara for Product development
Key partners
CITT
CAMTech
Ministry of Health
UNBS
Biomedical engineering firms
clinics
hospitals
pharmacies
health centers
Key activities
- Research and development
- Design
- Clinical trials
- Quality control and assurance
- Training
Value propositions
The system monitors and detects flow rate of infusion therapy
It communicates to the health workers about the progress of the fluid
Customer relationships
- Customers phone numbers
- Regular updates
- Website
- News papers
- Hospital visits
- Free servicing for the first six months
Channels
Biomedical engineering sales agents
Word of mouth
Social media
Customer segments
Nurses
Doctors
Clinical officers
Mid wives
Key resource
Human resource
- quality control and assurance officers
- programmer
- electronic specialist
- manufacturing team
- finance team
- marketing team
physical resources
equipment
Cost structure
Hiring a developer
Buying electronic components
Revenue streams
Direct sales
Personal savings
10% commission
We hope to engage in hackathons and make our idea known to funders and hence lobby for funds, we as well hope to receive donations from neighboring countries through friends, we hope to engage our University heads through competitions organized by the University for example Center for Innovation Technology information that is a center supported by the government of Uganda to grow student ideas and build them into sustainable products.
