Project Details

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Smart Tool for Functional Assessments

Company: Function Focused PMR Care+

Major(s):
Primary: IE
Secondary: ME
Optional: BME

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

Frailty is a clinically observable, chronic, and progressive condition with a spectrum of severity. Recognized in early stages, frailty may respond to treatment that prevents or ameliorate the functional/physiological loss. Later stage frailty appears to set the path toward an irreversible, pre-death phase with a high risk of mortality. There are various instruments to assess frailty (i.e., 5X Sit-to-Stand Test, 30 Second Sit-to-Stand Test, and Timed Up and Go Test). These tests all require a chair and a start and stop time, and space to perform. They are highly observer dependent and prone to data collection variability due to the manner in which the tests are performed. The clinician has to perform the timing of the test, while simultaneously observing the patient's performance, and maintaining patient safety. Insurance companies would prefer quantitative data when measuring frailty over time. The goal of this project is to create a seat cushion with a variable pressure sensor that would track the number of sit-to-stands and confirm the patient was indeed sitting on the cushion between each sit-to-stand. This seat cushion could be used in a variety of settings - hospital, clinic, and home. The observer would not need to use a stopwatch or cell phone - instead, they can closely watch the patient and record observations about the patient's breathing, balance, ability to follow directions, pain, etc., while monitoring the patient's safety in the performance of the tests.