Posts by: Eimear Galvin

Closing date July 31: New HIHI education offer, aimed at health industry leaders, promises Trojan horses of Irish healthcare innovation

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Closing date for applicants July 31

Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) calls on Irish health industry leaders to apply for a new Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation, focused on the development of ‘Healthcare Innovation Ambassadors’ in Ireland. The programme will help companies use innovation to create new business models, products, services and processes that will add value.  At the core of this education offer is co-creation of new models of working, through engagement with a wide stakeholder network to provide improved health and health industry outcomes.

For innovation in Irish health care to be sustained at an economically and fiscally responsible pace, it has to be a collaborative effort, requiring input from key players across the sector. Through education, HIHI seeks to achieve a culture shift that ensures those in Irish healthcare and Irish health industry are the lead architects of positive change and accelerate the Irish health system to one with innovation at its core.

For Irish health care to evolve into a more sophisticated and efficient system, cross-industry collaboration and inter-professional cooperation must become the norm. By engaging in the HIHI academic offer, senior executives and health industry leaders will build increased healthcare community capabilities, necessary to deliver lasting value for future health. The capacity to identify new pathways to improve healthcare challenges , such as the ability to assess the applicability and value of new technologies in the broader healthcare sector and specifically in their own work environment is enhanced through this programme.

HIHI is a joint government initiative of both the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) and the Department of Health (DoH), funded through Enterprise Ireland and supported by HSE. Operationally, it is a partnership of clinical and academic centres. Of the four HIHI academic partners, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has specific responsibility for the delivery of educational products that will stimulate a culture of innovation within the HSE and Irish healthcare.

Prof Seamas Donnelly, HIHI PI and Course Director said:

 “Across the globe health industry leaders are thinking ‘how is the healthcare industry changing’? ‘How can we ensure we stay relevant’? Ireland is no different. Nobody wants to be the Kodak of healthcare.

“Through the combined learning offer of this Postgraduate Diploma in healthcare innovation, the Irish health system and Irish health industry can develop structures for active collaboration and co-ordination. Our graduates will be the Trojan horses in Irish healthcare that change how the system works from within.

“The Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation will position senior executives across pharma, medtech, medical device and connected health as the bearers of solutions to the wider health picture and not just health treatments.”

Individuals completing the Diploma  will gain an in-depth knowledge of the dynamics of embedding an innovative health culture within their systems. Each will gain insights into the latest global thinking on creative and practical implementation of new ventures within medicine.  As places are mixed  – both HSE and industry –  there will be aa year-on-year a growing cohort of connected, and networked, innovation ambassadors in Irish health.

A one-year course delivered through Trinity College Dublin, the Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation, comprises eight modules. There are six taught foundation modules and two project modules, including methodology workshops and a practical field project. The programme will offer fundamental grounding in key subjects: design thinking and embedding a culture of innovation; process innovation; lean thinking; social innovation and health economics; innovation and leadership. The practical project will help students to identify and plan an innovative solution applicable to their workplace, with a view to implementation.

The Postgraduate Diploma will be a catalyst in transforming the innovation mind-set within the Irish healthcare landscape. Graduates are expected to lead the adoption and embedding of innovation in the Irish health system. Closing date of July 31 for applicants.  Full course detail here.

Our PI’s Prof John Higgins & Prof Seamas Donnelly, in the ‘Irish Medical Times’ on health innovation and the potential for change through our Postgraduate Diploma in Healthcare Innovation

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Hub is an inspiration for integrated health innovation

Lead Principal Investigator of the Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI), Prof John Higgins, is urging doctors and healthcare staff to come forward with new and inventive ideas. If you have an innovation, if you think you could improve our health service and you just want someone to help move your idea to reality, the door of the Hub is open.

Prof Higgins, who is Clinical Director for Maternity Services for South-South West, and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, spoke recently to Irish Medical Times about how the joint-government initiative, HIHI, has been mentoring and fostering innovation from healthcare staff.

Prof Higgins and Course Director Prof Seamas Donnelly discussed how recently the Hub has advanced to providing a new Level 9 postgraduate diploma, incorporating a practical enterprise and theoretical studies, beginning this September to be delivered by Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

A mentor for healthcare professionals
Broadly speaking, on the one hand, the Health Innovation Hub Ireland has been set up to provide innovators working across the health sector with an avenue for their inventions or ideas. Under its remit, the Hub acts as a mentor to healthcare professionals, from funding applications to industry partnerships.

On the other hand, it is working with Irish businesses as a broker offering the opportunity to pilot clinical validation studies. In turn, this is intended to provide the health service with access to innovative products, services and devices that they may not otherwise be exposed to up to now.

HIHI was originally established by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Health, supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Health Service Executive (HSE) to drive collab­oration between the health service and enterprise. As the last government programme for jobs gained momentum, one of the key action points in health was to set up a demonstrator hub for innovation, which led to the establishment of the HIHI.

A small organisation to begin with, Prof Higgins said the demonstrator Hub began in Cork. Largely, he suggested, because of the cohesion it appeared to have across that spectrum between the clinical service, teaching, training, research, innovation and job creation, this allowed the concept to be piloted.

Creating real synergy

The first thing the Hub did was put out a call to companies or individuals who felt they had an idea. Prof Higgins said that for companies, “All that we provided was access to the system, and we married them with the clinical area which would have an interest and a need for using that product.”

He added: “The clinical side gets access to a solution for a problem, and if you get it right, you get real synergy. It means for the company, or for the person hoping to manufacture and sell a product, they get it used in real life, they get it assessed.

“They undertake a defined project and they get an assessment and report at the end of that, which is very useful for them.”

An innovation could then progress to the next level after being assessed through the auspices of HIHI. The company or individual provided them with a report “on what we did, how it went and what the pros and cons were”, added Prof Higgins.

“On the health side, the enthusiasm is great, and if you can match with the appropriate location you will generally find within any services, enthusiasts and advocates, people who will take on the project and run with it.”

Once that happened, the idea or concept progressed into something; they had been proven as something worthwhile and needed in the clinical service.

“Health is the world’s biggest human enterprise. Ireland is uniquely successful in manufacturing medical devices and pharmaceuticals as contributors to our economic success but, if you are that strong in one area, you could be vulnerable. It is even better if you are also very strong in innovation,” Prof Higgins said.

An appetite for change
He believed that development of new devices that changed the cutting edge made us stronger and much less vulnerable in the healthcare enterprise business. That was accepted.

“I think there is an enormous appetite for change; in particular that staff are feeling new ideas and innovation are okay. There hasn’t been a culture of ‘We want you to think outside the box’. I don’t think staff feels the response to suggestions has been, ‘Yes, go for it’. What the Hub is saying, supported by the HSE, by the Department of Health and Enterprise and all research jobs creation organisations is, ‘Yes to innovation and yes to change’.”

Academic partners
The Hub was headquartered in Cork but they were also in Dublin and Galway, embedded in hospital groups and four academic partners. The purpose of having academic partners was to give an organisational framework that recognised the fact that healthcare at its most successful demanded education, research, training innovation and job creation in health to be components of the whole picture — or you did not get the kind of moving learning organisation which we needed in the long-term.

It was not meant to be an organisation that just existed in two or three hospital groups. One of the requirements in setting up the national Hub had been the extension of the initiative from three areas into all hospital groups and academic partners to become a truly extended national entity. There was a requirement for them to work on that over the next couple of years.

Essentially, the Hub was a partnership of clinical and academic centres with three strands. One was industry and enterprise, which needed the healthcare system to be open to new inventions.

“The healthcare system has struggled to give those opportunities to Irish-based homegrown enterprises. Ireland is a really small place and for anybody ambitious it is very difficult.”

Working through the Hub provided the advantage of access to the Health Research Board (HRB). Enterprise Ireland and the IDA Ireland, the agency responsible for the attraction and retention of inward foreign direct investment into Ireland, and meant permission for a new product to be trialled. The second strand aimed to provide somewhere to start and where to bring ideas. “I have been looking at this that has not been strong in our culture,” Prof Higgins added.

The third strand to the Hub had been education which he said was so important to change different cultures. “We have had two workshops and they have been oversubscribed,” he said.

Here Prof Donnelly, who is also Professor of Medicine and Director for Global Relations at the School of Medicine, TCD and HIHI Principal Investigator, said one of the challenges from the HSE and Enterprise Ireland to TCD had been to develop and offer general training focusing on rapid adapters in the healthcare sector.

What they had developed in response had been three levels of complexity. One was a roadshow introducing the Hub, their strategy and what their educational pillars were in the context of healthcare innovation.

From that, they had followed up with those who had participated and had shown they were interested in further educational opportunities focused on innovation. If they wished, they could progress to attending five one-day workshops held over a year. “If they attend all five, they receive a certificate as ambassadors of innovation awarded by the Hub.”

And now, for those who were committed to the next level, TCD were offering a Diploma at Level 9 over one year.

Looking to this first year of the postgraduate diploma due to run from coming September to August 2020. It is structured to provide in-depth study into details and different aspects on adoption of innovation as well as challenges and obstacles to adoption of innovation.
Parallel to that, students will also do an individual research project related to their own work environment.

Encouraged to find solutions
Within the first semester of the diploma they will be encouraged to identify a problem and potential solution within their work environment. With guidance and expertise of the Hub, from an education perspective, they will then work out how the solution could be implemented in the work setting. The practical project is to be undertaken particularly across the last eight months of the diploma.

Commercial potential
Prof Donnelly expressed the hope that there would be a number of projects which may turn out to have commercial potential and the Hub could introduce to the Enterprise Ireland commercialisation pathway. The individuals will carry out all their own development work on their ideas and concepts but the Hub will remain available in offering an advisory role. “And they have an opportunity to take that idea as far as is feasible,” he added.

The postgraduate diploma is open to HSE employees and people working in the healthcare sector, both in the pharmaceutical industry and with other healthcare providers, whether in the private or public sector. They will be expected to have a basic second class honours degree, and would need to be working in the healthcare environment.
The course aims include inspiring participants in the context of innovation, to show them detailed examples of where it had worked in the health sector globally, and to give them an ability to assess in a comprehensive manner, the value of any new applications proposed to them.

Fear factor of change
Prof Donnelly believed that a lot of resistance in the healthcare sector could be through a fear factor of change. He felt that if you had people who were open to change and the adoption of technology, that could impact on the approach by a whole department, and benefit patients ultimately.

The diploma is built around small working groups, assignments and project working groups as well as distance learning. The core of the postgraduate diploma involves six foundation modules and the parallel innovation project running as a sequence of two linked modules. There are some formal lectures but the focus is on guiding the student along the path. The programme is based in the HIHI, in the main hospital on the St James’s Hospital Campus.

The six two-day focus workshops are held on Fridays and Saturdays every six weeks.

Prof Donnelly added that the number one strategic pillar within TCD was innovation. The university owned a site at the Grand Canal Dock where the major tech companies were based, and was planning significant investment in building an innovation quarter over a three- to five-year plan and ultimately, the Hub would be based there.

 

By Valerie Ryan 18th July 2019 (Irish Medical Times: https://www.imt.ie/features-opinion/hub-inspiration-integrated-health-innovation-18-07-2019/)

Minister for Health confirms restructuring of health services

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Six regional health bodies to deliver people-centred health and social care;
·        Regional health bodies will have their own budget based on local population needs;
·        Improved accountability and transparency

Minister for Health Simon Harris TD has today announced a major step towards restructuring of our health services leading to the establishment of six new regional health areas.
The new regional health areas are in line with recommendations made in the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare Sláintecare Report (2017), that regional bodies should be responsible for the planning and delivery of integrated health and social care services.
The proposed six regional health areas are based on population data including how people currently access health services, as well as a public consultation.
Minister Harris said: “This is a key day for the delivery of Sláintecare and for the reform of our health service.
“Today’s announcement identifies the six regions which will be used in developing structures for the delivery of integrated care.
“This will result in clear financial and performance accountability, empower frontline staff and devolve authority from the HSE to the local regions.
“These proposals will help shape the future of healthcare in this country and will give the staff, and more importantly, communities a greater role in the delivery of health.”
Ms. Laura Magahy, Sláintecare Executive Director said: “I look forward to co-designing integrated health and social care services with the citizens and staff of the six regions.
This population-based approach will allow us to hear from the people in each region and ensure that a big emphasis is placed on preventing sickness, keeping people healthy in or near their own homes for as long as possible and ensuring that excellent hospital care is available in a timely way, where necessary.”
Professor Tom Keane, Chairman of the Sláintecare Implementation Advisory Council said: “I look forward to the regional health bodies assuming responsibility for patient safety in due course, through the implementation of mandatory clinical governance structures and processes, such that there is clear accountability for the clinical care of every patient.”
Paul Reid, HSE CEO, speaking at today’s announcement said: ‘The agreement of the six new health regions is an important step in improving our health service, for everyone living in Ireland. We want people to be able to get the health services they need, as close to people’s homes as possible, with the majority of care delivered in the community and not in acute hospitals.’
‘Since I joined the HSE, I have met staff right across the country who work tirelessly to deliver the best care possible, and who have great energy and ambition for constantly improving what we do, and how we do it. However, our current structures do not always support them in doing this.  These new integrated health regions provide us with the opportunity to put in place a system that ultimately supports and enables our staff to deliver the best care possible.’

The next step is to begin the co-design process. Stakeholders in each of the regional health areas will be invited to contribute to the design of the services for their new regions. Work will also now be undertaken to detail the national and regional organisational design which will be brought back to Government for approval within 12 months. Once established, these six regional bodies will be enabled to plan, fund, manage and deliver integrated care for people in their region.
Minister Harris concluded, “This is only one of a number of decisions that need to be taken in relation to the future development of our health service structure. It is important that there is now clarity on the future regional areas and detailed work can start on designing the new regional bodies. I look forward to engaging with key stakeholders, including the public, patients and staff as part of this process”.

Call for papers: 24th Annual Health Informatics Society of Ireland Conference

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Call for Papers

Preparations for the 24th Annual Health Informatics Society of Ireland Conference & Scientific Symposium are well underway. We would like to encourage everyone to submit position papers, research findings, case studies and other materials for the conference if they have yet to do so.

The deadline for paper and poster submission is:
Monday 30 September 2019

Papers submitted should be of high quality, representing the best in Irish Health Informatics research into eHealth, mHealth and Health Interoperability. Contributions can be theoretical or empirical in nature, and from a variety of perspectives: legal, societal, cultural, commercial, technical, etc. With a view to furthering Health Informatics research, papers submitted should aim to reflect upon challenges in the field and propose solutions where possible.

Posters will be accepted in size A0, portrait. Please state paper or poster on your submission.

  • Submissions should be in digital format (.doc or .rtf) and sent to conferences@ics.ie
  • Graphs and images should be included in the article and as separate files
  • English language, all references correct, 200-300 word abstract limit

For a full list of submission guidelines, click here.

Conference Venue: Croke Park Conference Centre
Date: 26 & 27 November

HIHI welcomes ‘Choose New Jersey’ mission to Ireland

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Choose New Jersey kicked off a multi-city business attraction mission across Ireland this week to increase economic ties between New Jersey and Ireland. The business delegation includes nearly 20 representatives from sectors as diverse as finance, education, health care and development. The delegation spent the day in Dublin, Ireland and will be in Cork, Ireland on Tuesday and in Galway, Ireland on Wednesday.

HIHI were pleased to host the delegation in the St James based Dublin office, presenting on HIHI in the Irish health eco system. HIHI client Una Kearns, founder of Mypateintspace, also joined to share her product development journey as an Enterprise Ireland Comeptive Start Up fund winner, now working with HIHI to develop her product in oncology.

The Enterprise Ireland hosted visit marks New Jersey’s first business and participant led international business attraction mission. Ireland and New Jersey are closely aligned in their strategy to create an innovation economy, and both economies have thriving FinTech, life sciences, medical device and food industry economies.

 

HIHI RECRUITMENT: HSE – Clinical Liaison (Two year assignment to HIHI, Dublin). Closing date: June 20

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HSE Clinical Liasion HIHI 2019 JD 200519 UPDATED

HSE advertisement here

Join the team – We are recruiting for a HSE – Clinical Liaison (2 year assignment to Health Innovation Hub Ireland, Dublin) for HIHI in Dublin. Closes June 20.

This unique opportunity will allow you to be part of HIHI and its exciting development story. You will learn new skills and leverage your current clinical experience to new advantage. HIHI is breaking new ground in Ireland across healthcare industry, healthcare community and education in healthcare innovation. This is your opportunity to contribute to this as art of HIHI in Dublin.

The post holder will be assigned to work in HIHI  office, which is on the St James Hospital Campus in a full time capacity for up to two years and will retain their current HSE contract and pension benefits for this period.

Central to the role is supporting start-ups and SMEs, brokering collaborative projects working with companies/ HSE teams and a network of experts within HIHI, to validate technologies and solve challenges in healthcare. This involves the post holder project-managing pilot, usability, validation studies. In addition to the HIHI studies, the role of broker may also involve simply being the initial connection point between industry and a clinical expert, organising focus groups, or facilitating mid development feedback pre-clinical trial or post market analysis.

Project management skills are crucial in this role. The role requires co-ordination of projects from study set up, providing support with ethical application and protocol development, through to implementation of studies in a health care setting. It requires the ability to work on multiple projects across multiple locations, the ability to deal with issues and problems that may arise in projects and the ability to work with multidisciplinary teams.

Informal inquiries: galvinei@tcd.ie

Key duties and responsibilities

  • Act as broker between companies and clinical teams to assess feasibility of HIHI studies and co-design the study if agreed.
  • Work within the HIHI SOPs, guidelines and processes for operation, management and reporting of projects- in line with GCP
  • To play a proactive role in driving on-going projects identifying problems early and providing regular feedback with Principal Investigator, HIHI colleagues, company and project team.
  • To assist in ensuring the overall smooth running of HIHI pilot, usability and validation studies in line with best practice.
  • Facilitate the ethical approval for proposed usability, validation, pilot studies, where appropriate.
  • To advise on ethical and regulatory procedures (submissions, query resolution etc.) for studies as necessary.
  • To arrange study specific meetings, including project team notification, completion and writing of minutes where applicable.
  • To ensure prompt management of all study related correspondence
  • To take responsibility for maintenance and upkeep study documentation, including:
  • HIHI Project Agreement Documents and data entry.
  • Maintenance and regular monitoring of HIHI project notes on internal HIHI Smartsheets and SharePoint systems (full training provided).
  • To support, where appropriate on ideation development from with the healthcare community – manage idea/tech assessment and workshop ideas – as part of the HIHI work with the healthcare community.
  • To support on delivery of HIHI educational programmes as required, in particular HIHI Innovation Workshops.
  • To liaise with HIHI colleagues in Cork, Galway and Dublin.
  • Where appropriate support HIHI projects being led by HIHI partner locations.
  • To carry out other duties as appropriate to the post as may be assigned from time to time by the HIHI Manager/HIHI PI.

Academic/Professional Qualifications and/or relevant Experience

Required

  • This two year assignment is restricted to employees of the seven Dublin Midlands Hospitals.
  • Three years post-registration/qualification experience in the acute hospital setting within the last five years.
  • Nursing applicants – Registered General Nurse with The Nursing & Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), or eligible to register with NMBI.
  • Knowledge and experience of good clinical practice.
  • Experience of study design/protocol and ethical process in Ireland.
  • Hands on experience of project management tools e.g. excel.
  • Experience working in or developing multidisciplinary teams to deliver projects/studies.
  • Ability to work independently, self-directed but also works well within a team and under supervision.
  • Have ability to work within scope of practice in a confident and safe manner, ensuring professional accountability and adherence policies to and protocol.
  • Have excellent oral and written communication skills – requires attention to detail and meticulous record keeping.
  • Excellent organisational and ‘problem solving’ skills.
  • Be a superb communicator of technical and scientific information and possess excellent interpersonal skills.
  • The ability to integrate as part of a diverse team and work with colleagues across the three hubs.
  • Good IT skills including Microsoft Office.
  • Develop specialist skills to support HIHI studies, under supervision.

Desirable

  • Qualification in clinical research discipline.
  • Certificate in Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP).
  • Full Driving License (may be required to travel)
  • Experience in the field of clinical trials/research of medical devices, technology.
  • Clinical research experience/interest in clinical research.

Professional development

  • Maintain professional registration as appropriate.
  • Opportunity to undertake further education, as appropriate, to keep updated with changes within the field of clinical research.
  • Attend and participate in: appropriate outside conferences and/or other professional development activities

Application process

  • CV and brief cover letter as to why you are interested in this assignment and why you are suitable for the role to HIHI Executive Officer, Nina Holmes – holmesni@tcd.ie.
  • Interviews early July.
  • This two-year assignment must be considered in conjunction with your current employer.
  • This is only open to employees of one of the seven Dublin Midlands Hospitals

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enterprise Ireland opens call for applications for the Clinical Innovation Award

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Overview of the Clinical Innovation Award 2019

Enterprise Ireland in partnership with Cleveland Clinic Innovations recognise the importance of clinical innovation to address current unmet clinical needs for patients within the healthcare system and wider medtech sector. The Clinical Innovation Award is designed to support clinicians and other healthcare professionals in Ireland to explore the commercial feasibility of their innovative ideas and the potential to transform the way medical care is delivered in Ireland and abroad. The Award welcomes innovative technologies at all stages of development from concept, early stage research through to more advanced projects.

Who is Eligible?

  • Clinicians in public hospitals, third level institutions and non-profit research organisations
  • All healthcare professionals; radiologists, clinical psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists etc
  • Applicants must be employed and have ongoing clinical commitments in the Irish health service
  • Applicants must identify the associated academic institution for their hospital or health centre

What is the Award?

The winner of the award will receive a €15,000 Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Feasibility Fund to investigate the commercial feasibility of their innovative idea in Ireland and international markets. The winner will also receive travel costs to visit the Cleveland Clinic in 2019/2020 to showcase their idea to the Cleveland Clinic Innovations and receive feedback from their clinical and commercial networks.

Two runners-up will also receive a €15,000 Commercialisation Feasibility Fund to examine the commercial feasibility of their innovations/technology solutions.

More here

Irish Times series: Irish Health Innovators: Dr Elaine Spain, SepTec

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When Elaine Spain was growing up, she wanted to be a vet for a time and then a teacher. Secondary school revealed a natural ability for science, enhanced by a love of forensic science TV shows. Today, after a BSc in Analytical Science and PhD. in Electrochemical Sensors Elaine is co-developer of SepTec, an In-Vitro diagnostic device that screens blood for the diagnosis of sepsis, identifying pathogens within 15 minutes. Broadly speaking, pathogens are anything that can produce disease.

Sepsis is an often-fatal condition. The body launches an overpowering immune response to an infection that causes more damage to the body than the infection itself. A critical unmet need in combating sepsis is speed of diagnosis. Current clinical diagnosis times are one to five days depending on the pathogen type. An insidious condition, sepsis symptoms are non-specific. Patients present with flu like symptoms such as shivering or aches/pains. Often sepsis goes undiagnosed.

Elaine describe sepsis as “an equal-opportunity killer, impacting people of all ages and levels of health.” In fact, she says, “every three heartbeats someone in the world dies of sepsis.” SepTec addresses the critical issues of time and accuracy with the condition. It combines screening and pathogen identification in one compact, near-patient instrument. By being near-patient rather than lab-based, SepTec is more cost-effective, portable, easier-to-use and extends the facility to do more testing in a greater range of care settings.

Current protocol requires clinical staff to prescribe any patient that is suspected of having sepsis with a broad-spectrum antibiotic. However, these are only successful 30 per cent of the time. More than that, Elaine explains: “SepTec improves patient outcomes by providing rapid identification of the cause of a patient’s sepsis and it will reduce the inappropriate use of antibiotics that leads to the proliferation of antibiotic resistant pathogens.” The global problem of antibiotic resistance is fast becoming one of our major scientific issues. Bacterial resistance is undermining existing drugs, posing a serious threat as ordinary infections become untreatable.

Right now, there are no ‘bedside early’ (less than one hour) detection strategies for blood stream pathogens associated with sepsis. When validated, SepTec will help clinicians with diagnosis, prognosis and treatment, reducing mortality rates, hospital stays and recovery times. Clinicians and healthcare providers will experience improved patient care and outcomes as well as cutting bed-stays and cost-savings from reduced price testing.

Elaine and her co-developer Kellie Adamson have received support from Enterprise Ireland to the tune of €600K that has proven their work to date.  Presently, they are supported by SFI and receiving funding of €200K to further de-risk the technology. Developing a product that uses new technologies contains risk. Therefore, it is important to understand these early and have strategies to mitigate them.

Based at the National Centre for Sensor Research in Dublin City University, the SepTec team has developed and refined a proof-of-concept – evidence that SepTec is feasible – and a working prototype, which was tested in-lab and on patient blood samples. “Our R&D is mainly focused on ICU patients in Beaumont hospital. The ICU population was chosen as the prevalence of blood stream infection is higher among this cohort.” Clinical validation studies are imminent to verify SepTec’s capabilities. Approximately 200 patients will be enrolled at Beaumont Hospital over a three-month period; results will be compared to the gold standard blood culture system.

There is still a road to travel but when available, SepTec will allow a physician to rapidly identify sepsis and administer the appropriate therapy. Equally significant, by quickly ruling out the condition, SepTec will contribute to the global goal of reducing antibiotic use and stop antimicrobial resistance occurring. Discussing innovation, Elaine says that for her it means change. “We are bringing a new unique product to the market, Irish created and Irish developed and we hope to change current clinical practice worldwide.”

Originally published in the Irish Times, May 21, as part of the ‘Irish Health Innovators’ series by HIHI Dublin Manger, Eimear Galvin: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/we-are-bringing-a-new-unique-product-to-the-market-irish-created-and-irish-developed-1.3885078

HIHI takeover Spark Innovation Pop-Up Pod all day on in St James, Wednesday 22nd May – drop by.

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The Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) will be in the St James Spark Innovation Pop-Up Pod all day on the Wednesday 22nd May.

If you have identified a problem or an unmet clinical need in your role in healthcare and believe you have the solution HIHI will help you determine the next steps.

HIHI is a joint government initiative funded by Enterprise Ireland and supported by the HSE to enable healthcare staff across all disciplines and departments to validate their ideas for innovative solutions, products, services, and process improvements for unmet needs in healthcare. HIHI provide commercial, technical, and clinical feedback on ideas from the healthcare community, and help determine the best way to make them a reality. There are three HIHI offices nationally – the Dublin one is located full time here in St James. For Wednesday 22nd May, HIHI will take over the Spark Innovation Pop-Up Pod.

Agenda:

9:00 am: Drop in Clinic: Advice on how to validate, develop and implement solutions for healthcare

12:30 pm : Design Thinking:Talk on Design Thinking (30 minutes)

2:00 pm: Drop in Clinic: Advice on how to validate, develop and implement solutions for healthcare

For a one-to-one consultation contact Steven Griffin or Lukas Gokas by email

 

Irish Times series: Irish Health Innovators: Eamonn Costello, patientMpower

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Working with Health Innovation Hub Ireland, we are lucky to meet people from Irish healthcare start-ups to people on the front line that are truly innovative. Damian Cullen, the Irish Times Health Editor has agreed to share some of these in a new series ‘Irish Health Innovators’, by HIHI Dublin Manager, Eimear Galvin. Below is the second in this series.

Irish health innovator 2: Eamonn Costello, patientMpower

Eamonn Costello started his career as a telecoms engineer. A move to London brought fresh opportunities and after a time he moved into working with early stage start-ups, though healthcare was not a space where he saw himself. This changed when in 2012 his father Bill was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Eamonn and his fiancé (now wife) moved back to Dublin, where Eamon spent almost a year taking care of his father, much of that time spent in hospitals.

“His medication regimen would frequently change after a two week cycle – but within a two week cycle, your medication changed day by day”, Eamonn explains. This made care challenging and confusing so there was no other option than to visit the hospital for everything, even if it seemed small, just in case. Eamon saw first-hand the huge burden in the acute hospital space that can be reduced with the right support to empower patients and enable remote condition management.

The germ of Eamonn’s idea began with his father’s illness and when Bill died in 2014, Eamonn set up patientmPower with Kerril Thornhill, quickly joined by Colin Edwards who brought significant clinical experience to the company. Active in a number of therapy areas including lung and kidney disease their stand out product is a connected lung spirometer. Spirometry is a type of pulmonary function test (PFT), a non-invasive procedure that provides important information about how well the lungs are working.

“People who have undergone a lung transplant have to adapt to a whole new world where even air quality can affect their recovery.  We empower people after their lung transplant to better manage their treatment and care and enable lung transplant specialists to reliably monitor their patients’ progress remotely.”

‘patientMpower for Lung Transplant’ is the mobile platform which enables patients to keep track of everything relating to their health after a transplant and share this information with their healthcare team in real time. The aim is to remove physical clinical monitoring as much as possible. The patient has a spirometer, which they blow into that is blue tooth connected to an app on their phone. The functionality is so precise that a participant in a validation trial in Texas was able to notice early lung transplant rejection and receive the right care in the right time.

Based in Dublin’s Digital Hub, PaietntmPower undertakes a significant amount of their clinical validation work here in Ireland, with Eamonn citing Beaumont, the Mater and Galway as exceptional sites for their research, testing and product development work. However, in terms of market share and growth Eamonn sees the company continuing to target US and UK markets.  “The fact is that the Irish healthcare funding and reimbursement model does not encourage our type of solutions. In the US, there is value placed on avoiding hospitalisation that we do not currently have in Ireland. Preventative healthcare is not practiced or value based.”

From personal experience of hospital focussed healthcare delivery Eamonn and the PateintmPower team have developed a portfolio of products that empower patients through personalised remote care – which is the future of healthcare globally. Much of their portfolio is researched and developed in Ireland, tested in Ireland, with Irish patients and proven results in an Irish clinical setting. Yet the patientMpower for Lung Transplant’ is still unavailable to actively treat patients in the Irish system, outside of trial parameters.

Originally published in the Irish Times, May 14, as part of the ‘Irish Health Innovators’ series by HIHI Dublin Manger, Eimear Galvin