AWARD YEAR
2023
CATEGORY
Body
GOALS
Good Health & Well-being, Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure, Reduced Inequality, Responsible Consumption & Production
KEYWORDS
medtech, healthcare, health, hospitals, nurses
COUNTRY
Denmark
DESIGNED BY
Droplet IV - Video below made prior to Droplet IV changing it's name from SafeFlush
WEBSITE
https://www.dropletiv.com
Droplet IV
Automated flushing device for IV lines - ensuring patients optimal treatment and alleviating nurses.
How does it work?
Droplet IV (intravenous) is an automatic flushing device developed to alleviate nurses from having to manually flush IV sets at the exact time of IV medicine termination. Droplet IV ensures every patient receives the full dose of medicine every time. The uniqueness of Droplet IV is that it works with current nurse workflows only adding a few seconds to the IV setup preparation but then in return saves the nurses hours of work.
Droplet IV is a pre-filled flushing automation device that works by simple fluid dynamics. Droplet IV exploits a simple physical principle by adding a sequential saline flush to the medicine infusion, thereby delivering the full dose. Droplet IV is the absolute simplest solution possible, without electronics, buttons to push or breakaway seals, etc. Droplet IV has been developed with direct feedback from more than 70 nurses (internationally) in various clinical environments to ensure that it meets all user requirement.
Why is it needed?
Patients
Each time a dose of IV medicine is given, a nurse must perform a manual flush to ensure that the patient receives the full dose. This task arises because 15-25 ml remains in the IV set as residual medicine following infusion, and without a manual flush, patients only receive 60-85% of the prescribed dose. This insufficient drug dosing can prolong the length of stay in hospitals and increase the risk of complications and put more strain on our healthcare system.
Nurses
Although recent international awareness has led to a general flushing recommendation, up to 90% of infusion sets are currently not flushed. Observations show that manual flushing adds 5 min. to each medicine infusion, the flush is often delayed for 5-60 min. and each nurse spends on average 30-60 minutes per shift solely on this task. This time-consuming manual flush, tied to one of the most common procedures in hospitals all over the world, must be eliminated to accommodate the global shortage of nurses.
How does it improve life?
Droplet IV is the only device that completely eliminates residual medicine and optimizes patient safety without adding time or complexity for the nurses. Additionally it reduces plastic waste in hospitals.
Droplet IV has global compatibility with current infusion equipment, so a worldwide adaptation of Droplet IV is possible. Droplet IV is relevant to use in an emergency hospital tent in South Sudan as well as a highly specialized oncology ward in the US, therefore Droplet IV has almost unlimited potential for impact.
Droplet IV won Danish Tech Challenge 2022 and was named start-up of the year in Venture Capital Investment Competition DenmarkK 2023,
Simply put Droplet IV is alleviating nurses and making sure patients get the full dose of medicine every time which is essential in aiding in the fight against antimicrobial resistance - perhaps the biggest future global healthcare challenge. Medicine belongs in patients and not in the thrash, therefore Droplet IV is a vital design.