Posts by: Gillian O'Mahony

Winners of the inaugural Clinical Innovation Awards aim at improving patient outcomes

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The inaugural Clinical Innovation Awards were hosted by Health Innovation Hub Ireland and Enterprise Ireland with the aim of supporting healthcare professionals to explore the commercial feasibility of their ideas.

Professor Seamus Morris scooped the overall award for his product, Mint, presented to him by HIHI’s Dr Steven Griffin. Three other winners and their inventions were also awarded prizes of €15,000 from Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Feasibility Fund.

Read more on the awards and on how Mint aims to overhaul the treatment of neural compression in this article in Silicon Republic here

Find out how the ALADDIN Project aims to tackle the gap in knowledge around 3D printing technology…

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Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is a disruptive technology with promising potential in the health sector.

The technology has not yet been fully integrated in hospitals and the health care sector. There are different reasons for this. Some of the barriers are the lack of knowledge and skills on the use of the technology, as well as a complex value chain requiring the cooperation of stakeholders from different backgrounds. The ALADDIN project aims to tackle the gap in knowledge and help create a better cooperation among stakeholders, contributing to the integration of additive manufacturing in the health sector.

ALADDIN is an ERASMUS + project that brings together six European organisations developing an innovative training programme on additive manufacturing in hospitals, targeting not only health professional working in hospitals, such as Doctors, Surgeons, and Biotechnologists, but also Engineering Students with a future in the health sector.

Until September 2022, ALADDIN developed a training methodology, a teaching guide, training contents customised for each target group and an e-Learning platform. The contents were released in English, Spanish and French. Three multiplier events were organised: one on the 4th of June in Belgium, organised by HOPE; one on the 1st of September in Spain, organised by IDIVAL; and one on the 15th of September in Ireland, organised by HIHI.

Three pilot sessions were also organised through the summer period (June to September) in the three languages. Following the pilots, surveys were sent to the students and to the teachers to collect feedback on the course. A validation report was compiled in October 2022, describing the results of these surveys.

In September 2022, the Exploitation and Sustainability Report was updated. This plan sets the targets and procedures for ensuring the project’s results will be exploited after its end. It also specifies the guidelines for exploitation and transfer of the project results outside the original project consortium and project duration.

The contents of the course are now under preparation to be shared on the websites of each partner of the project.

Study seeks women to wear sensors to detect menopause symptoms

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Women could wear a sensor to detect menopause symptoms making it easier to discuss their condition with doctors, IdentifyHer, an Irish tech start-up, is hoping.

Read more on this story in the Irish Examiner

Learn more about the study:

Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) is supporting a new Irish Femtech start-up (IdentifyHer) in developing a wearable product that detects perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms. This study will assess the feasibility of using a (CE approved) wearable sensor to automatically detect vasomotor events in women.

What’s involved? Women who are experiencing vasomotor symptoms will be asked to wear the sensor for 3 days and record the time of an event on an app while at the same time the sensor will automatically detect and record any vasomotor events.

This data will be collected anonymously and will be used to further develop a wearable device to detect these symptoms in the future, making it easier for clinicians to diagnose perimenopause and provide the best treatment for each woman.

This study has been approved by the UCC Social Research Ethics Committee.

To register your interest in this study, please click here

For further information on this study contact t.mulcahy@ucc.ie

Participants will be asked attend a brief information session in the Health Innovation Hub, Western Gateway Building, UCC, where they will be provided with instructions and a wearable sensor (day 1). Participants will be asked wear the sensor for three days and record their hot flushes or night sweats on an app, returning the sensor to the Health Innovation Hub (day 4). Participants will also be invited to complete a questionnaire on day 4.

Learn more about femtech@Health Innovation Hub Ireland and join our network here

 

 

Connected Health and ORPEA Residences Ireland (“ORPEA”) begin pilot study of Connected Health’s airCeption device in two residential care homes in Ireland.

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airCeption® incontinence monitoring device, which uses patented technology to detect and alert users of incontinence events.

 

(From left to right) Oscar (Robbins, Intern, Connected Health; Elaine Keane, Chief Quality Officer, ORPEA Group; Shirley Madigan, Director of Nursing (DON), Kilminchy Lodge Nursing Home; Rebecca Vogel, Director of Technology and Special Projects, Connected Health; Dr Steven Griffin, Manager, HIHI

 

(From left to right) Elaine Keane, Chief Quality Officer, ORPEA Group; Rachelle Josling, Assistant Director of Nursing (ADON), TLC Centre, Santry; Jane Deepa, Director of Nursing (DON), TLC Centre, Santry; Rebecca Vogel, Director of Technology and Special Projects, Connected Health; Dr Steven Griffin, Manager, HIHI

 

On Monday 26 September, Connected Health and ORPEA Residences Ireland (“ORPEA”) began a pilot study of Connected Health’s airCeption device in two residential care homes (Figures 1-3), TLC Centre, Santry, and Kilminchy Lodge Nursing Home, Portlaoise. airCeption is a small neat device that “sniffs” the air for odours linked to incontinence. Where residents of residential care homes, living with incontinence, are unable to self-toilet or alert carers when an event occurs, airCeption will detect an event and, via a simple user-friendly app, alerting the care team. Early notification of an event allows for greater resident comfort, a proposed reduction in incontinence associated dermatitis, a painful skin condition requiring additional medical care, and increased efficiencies for residential care staff.

The airCeption pilot study is part of the Health Innovation Hub Ireland Open Call 2022 (link) where innovative companies have the opportunity to work with healthcare organisations to show the efficacy and value of their products in a live environment. These pilots highlight the benefits of novel solutions to the needs of patients, healthcare staff, and the healthcare system. In turn, successful pilots demonstrating value should be considered as must haves for modern patient centred healthcare systems.

Steven Griffin, HIHI Manager, Galway

This collaboration between Connected Health and ORPEA shows their dedication to develop and explore new and inventive solutions to improve resident care, quality of life, and operational efficiencies. This pilot is a great opportunity for an innovative company to highlight the benefits of their product in a live environment while improving conditions for the residents and staff.

Rebecca Vogel, Director of Technology and Special Projects, Connected Health

“We’re delighted to be working with the ORPEA on piloting airCeption with HIHI, incontinence is a huge issue in the elderly care sector in particular. We’re very excited to be in engaged in providing an incontinence management solution that will enable prompt changes and contribute to overall dignity for a patient as well as reallocate staff work capacity.”

John Kelly, Chief Technology Officer, Connected Health

“The insights derived from partnerships like these are invaluable for early-stage technology companies. The collaboration with ORPEA is exciting and will provide Connected Health with rich streams of use-case data, providing a deeper understanding of the impacts of airCeption® and how it advances incontinence care.”

Elaine Keane, Chief Quality Officer, ORPEA Residences Ireland

ORPEA is delighted to participate in this pilot study of airCeption with Connected Health and supported by the Health Innovation Hub Ireland in our homes in Kilminchy and Santry.  As a committed and responsible provider, ORPEA’s ambition is to be a forerunner and innovator by anticipating the evolution of care delivery methods. By keeping a constant watch on innovative devices such as airCeption, and new approaches to care, ORPEA aims to provide itself with the means to offer solutions that are ever better adapted to the needs of residents, but also to the expectations of its employees.

Connected Health

Connected Health Ltd is an independent private home care provider. Connected Health’s services include home care, technology enabled care, remote health monitoring, community enablement, training and nursing agency services.

Domiciliary Care and Home Help in Belfast & NI

 Health Innovation Hub Ireland

Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) brings enterprise and healthcare professionals together to ideate, evaluate, pilot and drive commercialisation and adoption of innovative technologies, products and services, while enabling greater innovation in healthcare delivery.

HIHI supports companies by providing access to the Irish healthcare system to support product development from early stage validation through to product pilots.

HIHI is a national government backed initiative supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Health Service Executive.

www.hih.ie

 

Learn how to join the Femtech @HIHIreland network and improve women’s health in Ireland in Irish Tech News!

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Irish Femtech industries are to benefit from the launch of new Femtech initiative at Health Innovation Hub Ireland. HIHI a government of Ireland initiative puts the spotlight on the development of Femtech in Ireland. Femtech is a relatively new area of development bringing together the essential players in femtech development including entrepreneurs industry, clinical experts, research and business expertise.

Read more here:https://irishtechnews.ie/femtech-network-improve-womens-health-in-ireland/

 

Read all about Femtech@HIHIreland in Silicon Republic!

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Femtech @ Health Innovation Hub Ireland wants to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurs and investors in the sector

A new initiative in Ireland aims to create a network of individuals in the femtech industry developing technologies that focus on women’s health.

Launched by the Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI), the initiative aims to bring together essential players in the femtech industry, from entrepreneurs and clinical experts to business leaders, to stimulate and support growth in the sector.

HIHI is a Government-backed body based in University College Cork that supports businesses in Ireland innovating in health-related fields. In the past five years, it has supported more than 400 Irish health-tech companies.

Read more here: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/femtech-health-innovation-hub-ireland-women-tech

 

 

HIHI Pulse Webinar Series: Healthcare Data Management – Why is it so important?

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Health Innovation Hub Ireland are delighted to announce the last in this year’s HIHI Pulse Webinar Series will take place on Friday 30th September 2022.

The panel will be moderated by Louise Callanan, CIO and eHealth Director, South/South West Hospital Group, CIO RHA D South, Assistant National Director HSE.
Guest speakers include:
Hazel Chappell, Founder and Digital Managing Partner, ishca health Inc
William O’Brien, Director of Cybersecurity, Privacy and Forensics, PwC Ireland
Professor Donal Sexton, Consultant Nephrologist St James’s Hospital, Clinical Associate Professor with Trinity College Dublin, Researcher at TILDA and Principal Investigator with ADAPT
Please submit your questions in advance to eimer.oconnell@universityofgalway.ie 

 

When: 14:00 pm Friday 30th September 2022

​Register HERE​