The CEiiA 2.0 project consists of a smart wristband that monitors the health status of each patient who attends emergency care services. The data is transmitted to a Web App through which health care professionals can manage health care priorities. The idea is brilliant and will be extremely useful in a hospital environment. The project was developed by the Junior enterprises at Técnico (JUNITEC) and it is nominated for the JEE Excellence Awards, in the “Most Impactful Project” category.
The project was developed by JUNITEC, in collaboration with the 4LifeLab, created in 2021, by CEiiA – Centre of Engineering and Product Development – and Centro Hospitalar de S. João.
The high number of patients attending emergency care services – more than 500 thousand monthly – and the scarce resources available subject patients to long waiting times. The average waiting time is 265 minutes and, during this period, the health status of patients classified as low priority can easily deteriorate in a matter of hours. For this reason, in these cases, as in all others, it is crucial that healthcare units ensure a proper patient monitoring, in order to verify any possible changes in their health status, thus ensuring a prompt and clinically integrated response.
The JUNITEC multidisciplinary team was composed of Engineering Physics students Vicente Mendes (project manager) and Hugo Miranda; Biomedical Engineering students Mariana Nunes, Guilherme Gaspar and Maria Fernandes; Aerospace Engineering student Afonso Mesquita; and Computer Science and Engineering student Martim Afonso.
The smart wristbands are reusable and sterilisable, and monitor different vital signs, such as heart rate, blood oxygen saturation level and body temperature. They also monitor the patient’s location in the hospital through RFID.
Vicente Mendes explains that the main objective of the wristband, from a clinical point of view, is to monitor vital signs. “From a logistic point of view, patient’s monitoring allows to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of emergency care services, and to reduce waiting times”.
The health care professionals can access patient data through a user-friendly web app. “It is also essential that the wristband can be reusable after disinfection and charging, and have sufficient battery capacity for a long waiting time”, stresses Vicente Mendes.
All data collected during the patient’s monitoring will only be accessible to health care professionals, through a simple dashboard developed by JUNITEC. “The person or group responsible for the triage planning can make better decisions based on the data collected”, says Miguel Mira, Vice president of JUNITEC.
The JUNITEC team had the opportunity to create a Product Roadmap for this device. “This document includes future versions of this wristband which, with additional sensors, could easily be used in other health care units”, says Miguel Mira.
According to Maria João Carvalho, President of JUNITEC, this appointment by JEE “recognises our mission and the work carried out by our members”. Despite being aware that CEiiA 2.0 has “an enormous intrinsic value” and that it is “a truly impactful project”, the JUNITEC team recognises the quality of the other finalist project. “Our main objective is to demonstrate how Técnico students and JUNITEC members can really position themselves at the forefront of technology”, says Maria João Carvalho.
The “Most Impactful Project” category aims to reward European Junior Enterprises for their work over the last year. Directly competing with JUNITEC for this award is LisbonPH, the Junior Enterprise of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa. In the last two years JUNITEC was awarded several times: JUNITEC was elected the Most Promising Junior Enterprise in Europe (2021), the Most Entrepreneurial Junior Enterprise in Europe (2020) and the Most Innovative Junior enterprise (2020).
