I-Corps: Autonomous smart Intravenous (IV) Pole that follows patients to reduce falls and collisions

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种智能静脉(IV)杆，以帮助防止患者在医院摔倒。在病人的房间里，相对较大比例的跌倒与静脉注射杆有关，这会带来严重的风险。该解决方案在医院和长期护理机构都有潜在的应用，在那里发生静脉输液杆子相关的跌倒。患者跌倒影响了100万住院患者，每年给美国护理人员造成500亿美元的损失。医院跌倒是不会得到医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心报销的。此外，更严重的跌倒会导致更长的住院时间，并可能导致其他并发症，如感染风险增加。使用拟议的解决方案还可以为医院提供其他切实的好处，因为它可以改善医院的安全评级和患者体验。I-Corps的这个项目是基于一种智能静脉输液极设备的开发，这种设备与目前市场上该产品的版本有根本的不同，可能会降低在医院和其他医疗机构摔倒的风险。这款产品基于人工智能的功能可能会消除与目前的静脉极相关的多种风险。该团队之前的研究表明，在所有秋季活动中，分别有70%和23%的秋季活动与静脉注射杆有关，分别是在去卫生间和在床周围。受试者-环境-设备/家具相互作用导致的患者的强制姿势改变被认为是开始跌倒的关键决定因素。当连接到静脉注射杆子上时，运动包括持续的推拉和其他强制的姿势变化，这些变化引入了与跌倒启动相关的不稳定的生物力学力量。使用建议的技术解决方案，消除了静脉输液杆强制的姿势变化，释放了患者的双手进行任务，并能够同时使用助行器或轮椅，以及其他安全改进。对年轻、健康的受试者进行的初步研究显示，步态速度和躯干倾斜--这两个与跌倒相关的因素--有了显著的改善。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a smart intravenous (IV) pole to help prevent patients from falling in the hospital. A relatively large percentage of falls in a patient’s room are associated with the IV pole, which introduces a serious risk. The solution has potential applications in both hospitals and long-term care facilities, where IV pole-associated falls occur. Patient falls affect one million hospitalized patients and cost US care providers $50 billion annually. Hospital falls are “Never Events” that are not reimbursed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In addition, more serious falls result in longer length of stay and may cause additional complications such as the increased risk of infections. The utilization of the proposed solution also may provide other tangible benefits to hospitals as it may improve the safety rating of hospitals, and the patient experience. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a smart intravenous IV pole device that is fundamentally different from the versions of this product currently in the market that may reduce the risk of falls at hospitals and other healthcare settings. The artificial intelligence-based features of this product may eliminate multiple risks associated with the current IV poles. Previous studies by the team show that 70 and 23 percent of all fall initiations, in a trip to the bathroom and around the bed respectively, are associated with the IV pole. Patients’ forced postural changes resulting from subject-environment-equipment/furniture interactions were identified as a key determinant of fall initiations. Movement, while attached to an IV pole, involves constant pushing, pulling, and other forced postural changes, which introduce destabilizing biomechanical forces associated with fall initiations. Using the proposed technology solution eliminates postural changes forced by the IV pole, releases both hands of a patient for conducting tasks, and enables simultaneous use of a walker or wheelchair, among other safety improvements. A preliminary study with young, healthy subjects shows a substantial improvement in gait speed and trunk lean – two factors associated with falls.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.