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

Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX

Investigators

Abstract

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.