Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2

Bedsores are a common and highly preventable source of pain and discomfort for bed-constrained patients, andcause of death for some patients. The cost of bedsores is measured in billions of dollars, globally. Unnecessarysuffering and costs can be largely eliminated by adherence to ""clinical best practices"" of regularly altering thepatients posture by ""turning"" them in bed. The system developed by Engage Biomechanics is the first""patient-centric"" technology designed to address prevention of bedsores. The system uses wireless sensors thatthe patient will wear like a band-aid. The sensors measure the patient's posture in bed, and through EngageBiomechanics' cloud-based server and data processing, the system signals the caregiver when it is time for thepatient's posture to be changed. Whether the patient resides in long-term care, lives at home and received homecare, or is in hospital, the technology follows the patient and helps the caregivers to provide the best level ofcare for bedsore prevention. In collaboration with Engage Biomechanics, researchers at Fleming College willwork with nursing and engineering students to advance the technology and ensure that it is comfortable forpatients, providing an excellent interdisciplinary experiential education for the students in healthcare andmedical devices technology development. Engage Biomechanics will integrate new knowledge derived fromthis project with their prototype system as they move toward commercialization. The company will create newjobs as a result, and meaningfully impact healthcare and quality of life for the most vulnerable patients in ourCanadian society, and globally.