Health tech innovation in Ireland
eolas provides an overview of the 2021 HealthTech Ireland Awards winners that are bringing innovation to health technology in Ireland.
YellowSchedule
YellowSchedule won the Best Healthcare Innovation piloted in an Irish healthcare setting award in 2021 for its innovative solution to managing and streamlining visitations. The technology allows for the self-scheduling of visits by nominated visitors, allowing ward capacity management to enable social distancing in the context of Covid-19, as well as Covid screening questionnaires and visitor check-in.
Piloted in South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital in Cork, the digital solution automates the tasks of visitor management and contact tracing, and can also manage the verification of Covid vaccine certificates for the hospital.
TriMedika
TriMedika, in conjunction with the HSE, won the sustainability award for its TRITEMP product, a non-contact thermometer. With a 900-bed hospital likely to use up to three million disposable thermometers per year, the reusable non-contact thermometer has been credited with both saving money and reducing waste in hospitals.
The TRITEMP is medically graded and accurate to within 0.2ºC, using infrared technology that collects infrared rays emitted by the patient, typically from the forehead. The thermometer then uses multiple algorithms to convert the temperature from the forehead to a core body temperature. The technology developed by the Belfast-based company is now used in over 500 hospitals, including 150 NHS sites.
Syncrophi
Syncrophi, in conjunction with the HSE’s Digital Transformation and National Medical Device Office teams, won in the patient safety category for its Vital Signs KEWS integration product. The KEWS 300, a paperless patient observation tool, is a software product that is deployed in hospitals at the point of care to produce patient observation records. It allows caregivers to complete observations digitally though a tablet that is linked to the central station of the ward and to a server.
The tablet is connected to a vital signs monitor where possible via a cable with the output port of the monitor. The product then accepts direct feeds of data from the monitor while allowing for manual data inputs and possible overrides from the medical professional operating the machine. Once the data is saved by the caregiver, it is transmitted to the server and the ward’s central station and typically automatically fed to the EHR from the server in order to make the patient’s vital signs data immediately available to any authorised viewer. This quick uploading of the data allows ward managers to review patient acuity concerns, nurse caseload, resource management and protocol compliance all at a glance at the ward’s central station.
