In current practice, there is no distinct and reliable way to accurately detect the lack of a pulse in a patient. There are many solutions that measure tangential metrics to the pulse, but each has its own downfalls that can lead to negative patient outcomes. Our team desires to find a way to address care teams' lack of critical hemodynamic information during in-hospital SCA while making decisions in high-stress/pressure environments that could mean life or death for patients. In order to achieve this, we decided to reconfigure an ultrasound vascular doppler pen with an audio output into a continuously monitoring doppler cuff with a visual waveform output. This will allow clinicians to have a much more accurate understanding of the heart's mechanical status. 

Contrary to popular belief, 80% of cardiac arrests are non-shockable and unable to be treated with defibrillation, so extended CPR is required. PushStart developing an innovative mechanical CPR device that can safely and consistently perform life-saving compressions on out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients during conditions where regular CPR  would be impossible- while transporting the patient in cramped spaces and on soft surfaces. Our novel clamshell design reduces setup time by 70%, only takes a team of 2 to apply, and accommodates a 22% larger chest width than our top competitor. Our device also uniquely prevents downward migration with our adjustable shoulder braces and maintains access to the inner elbows for IV placement. 

A quarter of all hospitalized patients require a urinary catheter ( 9 million US patients). A urinary catheter is a long flexible tube that drains urine from the bladder and maintains its position by an inflatable balloon. If the catheter tube is snagged or pulled. It is ripped out of the bladder, causing physical trauma. A way to address the risk of urethral trauma for patients with indwelling urinary catheters so that urine can be safely drained from the bladder. CathConnect is a medical device that clamps onto the existing Foley Catheter, at a patient's individualized location & when pulled it will create a quick-release breakaway mechanism.

Using staples and/ or stitches to create GI anastomoses often results in leaking of GI content, which leads to severe health issues, including infection, sepsis, and death. Among the approximately 700,000 GI surgeries performed worldwide involving anastomoses on colon cancer patients, leaking can occur in up to 30% of patients, and mortality rates from these leaks can be as high as 39%, placing a severe emotional and financial burden on surgical patients worldwide. To address this, we partnered with a surgeon at UW Medicine to design a bioresorbable stent and compressive band system that can be used to create these surgical connections without the use of staples or stitches. The stent will be placed inside and between the two pieces of the colon that need to be surgically connected to each other. The barbs on the exterior of the stent will prevent the migration of the device. Once the stent is implanted, the compressive band will be secured outside the pieced of the overlapped intestine, centered at the anastomotic site. The band will clamp the intestine ends to the stent and act as an additional barrier against leaking of the GI content from the surgical site. Once the wound has healed naturally, the internal stent and compressive band will degrade and be resorbed by the body over time, leaving only the new tissue growth over the surgical site. 

Blood oxygen saturation measurements are recorded over 800 million times in the US on a wide range of patients. But studies show that pulse oximeters are 3 times less accurate in black patients than in white ones; pulse oximeters missed hypoxemia (when Sp 02 levels are less than 88%) at a rate of 11.7% in Black patients versus 3.6% in white patients. This highlights the need for a way to reduce pulse oximeter inaccuracies so a simple, minimally invasive, and accurate method to measure O2 levels is available for patients with darker skin tones. The EquinOx pulse oximeter plan includes a skin tone sensor and correction algorithm that allows the user to get a more accurate reading, regardless of skin tone. 

People living with ALS, or other conditions that lead them to have limited upper limb mobility often report uncomfortable conditions at night while sleeping. Because of their limited mobility, they are forced to rely solely on caregivers to adjust their bed sheets at night, often leading to feelings of guilt and shame. Snooze control safely and effectively allows individuals with upper limb impairments to adjust their blankets at night using voice controls.

The nasogastric tube (NG tube) is often placed by nurses and at-home caretakers. However, the procedure of insertion lacks clear guidance. Misplaced tubes cause many complications that may develop into serious problems such as pneumothorax, nose erosion, or laryngeal edema with asphyxia. Tube misplacement is especially an issue in neonates, with as high as 43% of NG tube misplacement occurring in this population. The EnsuriNG team is developing an inexpensive, easy-to-use solution that guides tube placement and helps confirm tip placement. Using optics and acoustics, the EnsuriNG device enables nurses and caretakers to be better informed of the NG tube tip position during the post-placement.

Looking for a way to reduce vibration on neonates during hospital transportation to allow neonatal healthcare providers to transport and care for newborns safely and effectively. Our current leading design implements a buckling system into a mattress that would geometrically buckle when certain loads are placed upon the mattress. 

Already vulnerable patients with implanted ports receiving long-term treatment are at risk for bloodstream infections due to the introduction of bacteria during needle access procedures, as current infusion sets are not inherently antimicrobial, requiring extra handling of needles and dressings. If they acquire an infection, they are at a 12-15% increased mortality rate, and hospitals are shouldered with unreimbursed $55,000 for treatment for each case, EZXS (pronounced “easy access”) will streamline aseptic needle insertion to reduce the risk of bloodstream infection, inadvertent needle sticks, and subsequent treatment costs. EZXS combines needles and dressings to create an all-in-one device that will ensure stable, accurate needle insertion. As a universal applicator for already widely used needles and antimicrobial dressings, EZXS will simplify implanted port access procedures for nurses, while reducing the risk of infection for patients. 

There are over 31,000 anesthesiologists currently in the United States facing the mental burden of administering medication, monitoring patient vitals, and making sure surgeries are performed safely and comfortably. In 2018, about 12% of the total surgeries completed at UW Medical Center used an arterial line, which is a highly invasive device can result in complications ranging from arterial occlusion, arterial thrombosis, compartment syndrome, infection, nerve injury and even skin necrosis if not recognized and treated early. Other less invasive devices exist, including the automatic pressure cuff which is an inflatable device normally applied on the brachial artery, but its inaccurate measurement, limited placement options (generally only arm), and non-continuous monitoring are significant disadvantages. Our group, Under Pressure, proposes using an adhesive device placed on the carotid artery that incorporates a photoplethysmography (PPG) light absorption sensor, an electrocardiography (ECG) electrical signal sensor, and a conformational ultrasound (US) patch to generate a measurement of blood pressure. The blood pressure cuff method is too archaic and the arterial line can lead to patient injury – the continuous and noninvasive nature of the Under Pressure patch has the potential to revolutionize blood pressure monitoring in the operating room.

Occupational hearing damages across the United States is still one of the largest occupational illnesses. Despite the advancements in hearing protection technologies such as materials and designs, the rate of people who suffer hearing losses has not decreased over the years. This is partially due to a lack of the awareness of hazardous noise exposure. Thus a solution that provides noise level awareness would help those at risk of hearing damage properly protect themselves. For example, people who work at nuclear power plants carry radiation meter to warn of the dangerous radiation exposure or houses are required to have carbon monoxide detectors to inform people of the danger of intoxication. These harmful elements are difficult to see, thus, difficult for people to protect themselves. Safe&Sound's solution is to reduce occupational hearing loss by making the invisible noise visible like radiation meter and carbon monoxide detector. Their solution consists of an integrated microphone design with the capability to detect various hazards.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, new challenges in dealing with airborne pathogens have been brought to light across many fields, most notably in dentistry. During dental procedures, the use of the necessary surgical instruments contributes to the production of bioaerosols putting medical staff and other patients at risk of infection. It is important to point out that many opportunistic respiratory infections are traced back to oral microbiota, further highlighting the importance of prevention. While current transmission-based precautions may help limit the spread, they do not prevent the spread altogether. Aeroception is working on a device to improve air quality around the patient’s oral cavity and the dental practitioners by reducing the number of contaminated aerosols and removing it out of clinical space, to better protect dental staff and patients in dental offices.  Their solution is a suction device that directs 99% of aerosols produced during dental visits away from the practitioners and removes it from the clinical space completely.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, mask usage has been on the rise to prevent the spread of airbone disease. Even prior to the pandemic, masks, specifically N95 masks, have been an important personal protective equipement for healthcare providers. However, mask are only an effective preventive measure if the fit allows for a proper seal. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) only requires healthcare professionals to test the fit of their mask once a year. Potentially this is because the traditional mask fit test is time consuming to set up, costly to conduct, and requires a trained professional to administer. Thus, there exists a need to more efficiently and more frequently administer mask seal tests. The Mask Seal team has proposed a solution consisting of a contactless thermal imaging system that indicates airflow leaks around the mask. This solution allows for a self-administered seal test that coneveniently allows for the test to occur daily. This increases the safety of healthcare workers using N95 masks.

Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is a lifelong illness that requires careful management of blood glucose levels and lifestyle choices. This illness especially impacts young adults, who need to learn to manage their illness while learning to take on independence and responsibility during their transition to adulthood. Beta Watch's solution addresses the need for a way for young adults recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) to help manage and monitor their symptoms to reduce the stress and burden caused by T1D. Their solution is a medical storage accessory that can be attached to a mobile phone. The Beta Watch case will safely and discretely house all the daily essentials that a T1D patient needs. This solution is paired with mobile application recommendations to raise awareness of existing tools that will help T1D patients manage their illness.

Biloccult is an innovative point of care test for frontline health care providers to reliably screen for neonates with bilious vomiting to identify and prevent intestinal damage by detecting the presence of bile in infant vomit. Within 30 minutes of contact with the sample, the results window will show a clear and binary response to the presence of bile with minimal contact to the vomit. In contrast to the current method of visual inspection, our solution uses antibodies specific to bile indicators, and a novel filtration system to enable rapid and specific detection of bile in newborn vomit.

IV’s are a popular access device to provide the medicines and nutritional support for premature infants. IV infiltration is the penetration of IV fluids or medicines into the surrounding tissue from a punctured vein or dislodged catheter. This penetration of fluids can cause severe and irreversible damage especially when undetected and untreated. Almost 90% of IVs fail and up to 78% of these failures in a single NICU can be due to IV infiltration. Neonates in lower to middle income countries are at a higher risk of infiltrations due to a lack of resources necessary to observe and monitor IV sites. Therefore, there is a need for an affordable and accessible detection method for IV infiltration. ProtectIV’s solution is an adhesive patch with two mechanisms that instantaneously monitor for the symptoms of IV infiltration. When infiltration is detected the patch gives a visual color indication to alert an observer that an infiltration has occurred.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) created by the body is a marker of ventilation, tissue perfusion, and metabolism. In critically ill patients, changes in the ventilatory and circulatory status of the patient will affect exhaled CO2 levels sooner than changes in the oxygen saturation that is routinely measured. Capnographs are devices that use CO2 from a patient’s expired breath to monitor the cardiopulmonary status during critical procedures, airway management, cardiac arrest care, and mechanical ventilation. These waveforms immediately sense changes in CO2 levels that may signal respiratory distress or cardiopulmonary collapse. Monitoring end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2) has become the standard in ALS care and is recommended by both the American Heart Association and European Resuscitation Council in the 2010 and 2015 Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care science.

Incorrect administration of insulin (e.g., too little, too much, or at wrong times) can result in transient and serious hypo- and hyperglycemia, wide glycemic excursions, and diabetic ketoacidosis. Special care must be taken to ensure that correct dose of insulin is administered. A report of cases in which providers asked patients to demonstrate his or her insulin injection technique identified serious flaws in insulin selfadministration. In one case, a patient was not properly using an insulin pen and so was unaware that she was not getting any insulin at all. In addition, the recommended practice of priming the pen before each injection to remove air from the needle reduces the insulin dose to be administered. There is a need to accurately confirm the dose of insulin injected, thus providing more reliable and accurate treatment.

Intravenous (IV) fluids are a therapy used ubiquitously in critically ill patients; they are the mainstay of treatment in patients who are in shock (low blood pressure resulting in end-organ damage) from severe infection or traumatic hemorrhage until the underlying cause can be found and treated. However, it is difficult to judge the appropriate amount of IV fluids to administer. Too little, and the patient remains in shock, at risk of stroke, heart attack, and death. Too much, and the patient is at risk of fluid flooding their organs, increasing length of ICU stay, length of ventilator dependence, need for dialysis, and risk of postoperative infections. Further, patients who suffer a large insult also sustain damage to the lining of their capillaries, resulting in highly permeable, “leaky” blood vessels. This last variable, capillary permeability, is currently an unknown, without which we are walking a tightrope blindfolded. Bedside knowledge of capillary permeability, and thus the efficacy of IV fluid administration, would enable clinicians to successfully get a patient out of life-threatening shock while avoiding the life-threatening complications of over treatment.

Neonatal mortality is a significant burden in resource-limited settings, specifically sub-Saharan Africa. At a tertiary referral hospital in Malawi, 24% of all neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit die. At more rural hospitals in the region, this rate is even higher. Neonates weighing less than 1000g at birth had the highest mortality rate at 88% and those that died commonly lost up to 40% of their birthweight due to severe dehydration from a lack of intravenous fluids. Intravenous fluid pumps are used to provide fluids to these neonates, but current solutions either have prohibitive costs or are inappropriate for use in neonates. A solution to prevent dehydration of neonates in resource-limited settings could substantially improve neonatal mortality in the regions with the greatest burden.

Chronic headache and migraine are frequent, severe neurological conditions that reduce quality of life. There are no highly effective pharmacologic interventions and those that are used have a substantial side effect profile. Headache focused biofeedback may be an effective intervention, but treatment is expensive and is currently only available at specialized facilities such as Seattle Children’s. Creating headache-focused biofeedback that is more accessible would allow patients to manage their headaches more effectively and reduce the cost and time associated with treatment at a center.

Approximately 50% of patients with obstructive sleep apnea have difficulty tolerating the most effective, first-line therapy, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), and other solutions such as mouthguards and surgery have lower efficacy and higher costs and risks. Patients struggle to adhere to CPAP therapy due to the noise, discomfort of the mask, and lack of portability during travel. A solution to treat obstructive sleep apnea that is lower cost and promotes greater adherence would improve management of obstructive sleep apnea.

When the adenoids are surgically removed, a laryngeal mirror is used to visualize the nasopharynx and guide the procedure. The mirror currently used during adenoidectomies makes visualization of the nasopharynx challenging due to its limited viewing angle, incomplete view of the nasopharynx and fogging of the mirror. With reduced vision of the nasopharynx, there is a risk of collateral damage to tissues near the adenoids, and it is challenging to teach adenoidectomy because it is challenging for both the teacher and student to visualize the nasopharynx at the same time. Currently, surgeons attempt to improve nasopharynx visualization by bending the mirror to improve the viewing angle and using anti-fog solution repeatedly throughout the procedure.

Patients undergoing surgery are at high risk for injury related to their positioning. Prolonged periods of anesthesia in unnatural positions place nerve and other vital structures at risk, since the patient cannot move to relieve this pressure. This novel solution combines pressure mapping and localized inflation to allow for semi-automatic cushioning and positioning of surgical patients to reduce risk for patients in the prone position (patient lying on their stomach) during operations.

Many medications are known to prolong the QTc interval, which is a marker for the potential of ventricular arrhythmia and a risk of sudden death. The QTc represents electrical depolarization and polarization of the ventricles and is measured with full EKG measurements, which is time-consuming and costly. As a result, the QTc is not monitored as closely as recommended. InstaQTc is a simple hand-held device that provides the QTc interval using only 3 electrodes, thereby enabling clinicians to efficiently monitor patients at risk for prolonged QTc interval.

Treatment decisions in Critical Care are made based on readings from external transducers that are manually leveled (by eye or by leveler) to the phlebostatic axis. A clinician may level the external transducer 2-3x per hour based on patient activity or questionable readings. CathAlign combines a novel sensing solution with ehanced transducer attachement safety features to improve nursing workflow and reduce avoidable hospital errors.

The Seldinger technique is used place a central venous catheter (or central line) in a large vein, and starts with a guidewire being held in place with a finger until a catheter is threaded into position. In the event of a stressful emergency, distractions may lead to loss of the guidewire, either by falling out of place, or in the worst-case scenario, the guidewire slips into the patient. This unique modification to existing wires not only prevents guidewire from slipping into the patient to prevent a serious safety event, but also circumvents the need to retrain physicians.

Epidural blocks are placed daily in hospitals to relieve the pain of childbirth or to limit pain during surgery. Placing an epidural is typically performed in a “blinded” manner without knowing exactly how deep and at what angle the epidural needle has to be inserted into the back to gain access to the epidural space. Inaccurate needle placement can result in severe spinal headache, nerve damage, paralysis, pain or any combination of the above. By providing the angle of needle entry and axial pressure exerted on the needle during the procedure, EpiSense allows anesthesiology trainees to reliably and safely administer epidural anesthesia.

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) compromise provider care and treatment, add to unreimbursed financial burden, and could lead to life-threatening events. While all items and surfaces in the clinical care setting need to be wiped down with germicidal wipes, the wipes are a challenge to dispense and the dispensers themselves are often covered in pathogens. SaniClaw is a disposable claw that assists in threading the initial wipe and was designed with key features to prevent accumulation of pathogens on the dispenser and ultimately curb the incidence of infections.

Patients with terminal heart disease may be implanted with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which allows hospital discharge with an acceptable quality of life while awaiting a donor heart to become available or for destination therapy. Prevailing technology for LVAD uses continuous flow centrifugal pumps to provide circulatory support. Careful monitoring of blood pressure in LVAD patients is essential to reduce complications associated with LVADs. However, the non-pulsatile blood flow dynamics of these LVADs confounds accurate blood pressure measurement and cannot be performed using commercially available non-invasive blood pressure sphygmomanometers alone. DopCuff integrates doppler and automated cuff technology into a single blood pressure measuring device that is user-friendly and accurate for outpatient use in LVAD patients to satisfy a significant unmet clinical need for this growing population of patients and their caretakers. 

Approximately 14.5 million orally invasive imaging procedures such as endoscopy, echocardiography, and bronchoscopy are performed annually in the U.S. A bite block is a single-use medical device designed to keep the mouth open during such imaging procedures. Unfortunately, commercially available products suffer from structural and/or material challenges that tend to result in unwanted complications such as patient injury (i.e. the bite block is too stiff and injures patient’s teeth) and equipment damage (i.e. the bite block gets dislodged and the patient bites down on the imaging device). BIBLOC is a redesigned bite block that is the result of numerous design iterations each taking into account surveys from various stakeholders and material properties testing. BIBLOC is an easily securable bite block providing dual protection of both the patient and the imaging equipment.

Pediatric urinary incontinence (UI), involuntary emptying of the bladder, affects more than 20-million people in the U.S., and 1 in 10 children will suffer from UI. In children with persistent UI that has not responded to conservative management and other directed therapies, an alternative form of treatment that has been shown to be very effective is biofeedback, or pelvic muscle floor training via the use of electrodes to measure muscle activity and provide feedback on the contraction and relaxation of the muscles. However, because these biofeedback devices are currently limited to clinical use, the outcome from biofeedback depends on the family's ability to travel to the hospital, pay for the therapy, and motivation of both the family and the child to participate in the unmonitored home-based training. This in-home biofeedback solution offers a creative in-home, mobile-based solution to clinical biofeedback with the use of electromyography with wireless transfer to a game-based biofeedback app specialized for children.

The proper administration of insulin is imperative for the nearly 422 million adults worldwide that are affected by diabetes. Older populations of diabetes patients are twice as likely to suffer from vision impairment compared to younger patients, and are also more susceptible to dexterity challenges. To address the needs of diabetes patients with limited vision and/or dexterity, Load-a-Dose features an automated insulin loading mechanism, with audio and visual feedback.

Nearly 10,000 patients are diagnosed with T4 oral cancer of the lower jaw each year in the U.S. To treat this aggressive form of cancer, the fibula bone is removed from the patient’s leg and reconstructed to replace the affected mandible. The current technique used to reconstruct the mandible from the fibula utilizes tongue depressors to measure and notate where the fibula ought to be cut -- a tedious and time-consuming process for a procedure that can take up to 12 hours to complete and can cost upwards of $100,000. FlushCut is a tool that can be used to aid in the precise cutting of the fibula with three degrees of angular and linear freedom.

Resource-limited countries have a stillbirth rate that is approximately 10 times greater than that of developed countries. One in four of these stillbirths, along with newborn deaths in resource-limited countries, can be attributed to oxygen deprivation during labor and delivery. The continuous monitoring of fetal heart rate and maternal uterine contractions is essential for diagnosing such fetal distress early on. To satisfy the unique needs of hospitals in resource-limited settings, this low-cost, consumables-free solution of continuous monitoring of fetal well-being utilizes an electrocardiogram to detect fetal and maternal heart rates, as well as an electromyogram to measure the uterine muscle contractions.

Bladder cancer is the sixth most common and most expensive cancer to manage in the U.S. The primary method for bladder cancer diagnosis is via cystoscopy, the visual imaging of the bladder by insertion of a scope with a camera through the urethra by a trained urologist. With less than 12,000 urologists in the U.S., there is an immense lack of access for cystoscopy procedures in rural areas. The tele-cystoscopy solution aims to lower the operating skill threshold, decrease procedure costs, and increase accessibility of cystoscopies with semi-automated rotation and bending of the scope, as well as continuous video capture and stitching of images to provide urologists with a view of the entire bladder.

Continuous bladder irrigation (CBI) is a process in which a nurse flushes saline through the bladder in order to wash out blood and prevent clotting after urologic surgeries. If a clot forms, it can make it impossible for the patient to urinate and lead to an extended hospital stay. CBI is performed on more than 150,000 patients per year in the U.S, but it is a manual process that requires a high level of monitoring from a nurse. This CBI device automates the process by detecting the level of blood in urine and managing saline inflow accordingly.

The ACBI team won the JARL award in 2017 and the Fenwick & West third place prize in 2018 at the Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge.

Children with gait disorders tend to spend limited time walking outside of physical therapy, which can slow their rehabilitation rate. PlayGait is a pediatric exoskeleton that helps children with gait disorders walk more, so they can establish efficient gait patterns and reduce their rehabilitation time.

Since completing EIH, the PlayGait team has received grant funding for further research and development and has filed for a patent through UW CoMotion. PlayGait won third place at the 2017 Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge and is a semifinalist in the 2017 Business Plan Competition. The PlayGait team is currently preparing to test with patients and is planning for a controlled initial product release in 2018.