More Hugs, No More Wires, Smart Pajamas
Check out this clinical innovation from Departmental members Dr. Wissam Shalish and Dr. Guilherme Sant’Anna which was featured in a linked article this past week in La Presse.
The ‘More Hugs, No more Wires, Smart Pajamas’ project is an initiative funded by the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. The principal investigators are Dr. Wissam Shalish and Dr. Guilherme Sant’Anna from the Division of Neonatology, and Professor Robert Kearney from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at McGill University.
The project will initially be concentrated in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, but eventually aims to transform Pediatric monitoring and care for the entire Montreal Children’s Hospital. The main objectives are:
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To develop wireless monitoring of biological signals that will benefit all types of patients at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
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To harness the power of cardiorespiratory signals by using automated signal processing and machine learning tools to transform monitoring data into potentially life-saving information (i.e. create a Smart NICU).
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To physically embed technology into our young patients’ pajamas once the monitoring becomes both wire-free and capable of providing automated and intelligent information. This would allow patients to be completely free from direct contact to any device and enable them to move freely within the hospital while still under intelligent surveillance.
The overall project is anticipated to cost $6,500,000 and take at least five years to achieve those goals. The Foundation has recently confirmed that the project has been funded $2,000,000 for the next two years.