For the patients who can't speak up.
We are building a smart incontinence pad that detects early signs of urinary tract infections in hospitalized patients that struggle with reporting symptoms.
The problem
Many incontinent patients in hospitals have trouble communicating their problems with nurses and doctors. Lying on top of absorbent pads all day, they oftentimes develop UTIs. Nurses have to wait for symptoms to appear for these patients who can't speak up, and the UTI is often developed and is in its late stage when it is caught.
An infection caused in a hospital costs hospitals around $7k for late treatment.
This costs the hospital money and doctors/nurses their time.
Hospitals focus on catheter-associated urinary tract infections, while not giving any attention to UTIs in incontinent patients who can't speak up and are not catheterized.
What we do
Alertura is a smart absorbent urine pad that collects urine just like a regular urine pad. Alertura, however, also has a test strip embedded into it.
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The test strip changes color
When urine wets Alertura's pad, the test strip changes color.
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Scan the test strip
Nurses do their regular changing of their pads as they do for absorbent pads today, but implement a new step in which they scan the test strip onto Alertura's bedside scanner.
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Predict if the patient has a UTI
The bedside scanner uses machine learning to predict if the patient has a UTI.
Alertura can help detect a UTI early in a patient, allowing them to be treated earlier. Nurses today have to wait for symptoms to show up, so Alertura fills a gap that needs to be filled in the healthcare system.
Machine learning
A single urine test strip isn't reliable with patients. Colors shift with time, lighting, and other factors. Many older adults also carry harmless bacteria that would trigger false alarms.
Our bedside scanner uses computer vision to read the special Alertura strip consistently, correcting for lighting, time since the strip got wet, and contamination. As we pilot and scale, every scan contributes to our dataset, making our model more accurate.
Who we serve
Hospitals buy Alertura and nurses use it. We are targeting units where patients are both incontinent and can't speak up.
- Large hospitals 500+ beds
- Geriatric units
- Stroke units
- Floors for older patients
We interviewed 41 healthcare professionals across 7 states.
said that current UTI detection is inadequate
said that manual pad checks are time-consuming
expressed strong interest in piloting our device