Hospitals Can Detect Fevers Earlier Thanks to a New Wearable Device

On: November 1, 2017 In: Press Releases

President and CEO of Blue Spark Technologies Shares Promising Clinical Outcomes, Results During the MEDICA CONNECTED HEALTHCARE FORUM

CLEVELAND, OHIO, USA (November 2017) — John Gannon, President and CEO of Blue Spark Technologies, will be sharing a wealth of insight during MEDICA’s “Patient Centered IoT Solutions” session on November 14. His session, titled, “Connected Healthcare: Wireless, Continuous Temperature Monitoring that Provides Earlier Detection of Fever for Inpatient and Remote Outpatient Monitoring,” will address the benefits of continuously monitoring patient body temperatures for a variety of conditions and cases.

Most recently, Gannon’s company, which invented, patented and manufactured TempTraq®, the only wearable, Bluetooth® continuous temperature monitor, received promising clinical study results for its medical device. A University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center (UH) study shows the wearable can detect a rise in body temperature up to 180 minutes earlier, in a majority of patient cases, than the current standard-of-care (SOC) method, allowing medical professionals the chance to intervene more quickly.

“This temperature monitoring patch has the potential to improve clinical outcomes for patients undergoing stem cell transplant and intensive chemotherapy for hematological malignancies by identifying neutropenic fever and beginning clinical interventions sooner,” said Dr. Ehsan Malek, MD, UH Seidman Cancer Center. “We are looking forward to the next step in our research—implementing this temperature patch in the outpatient stem cell transplant setting.”

Unlike other devices and methods that provide physicians with only one point of data and offer no continuous monitoring or alerts, this patented device is the ideal, non-invasive, solution for doctors and nurses who need a continuous, smarter way to track, log and respond to fevers quickly.

“It has been very exciting for our project team, the bedside nursing staff, and our patients to see this device working in real time,” said Nina Dambrosio, MSN CNP, UH Seidman Cancer Center.

To study this continuous, real-time method of body temperature measurement, UH tested the feasibility of monitoring body temperature for patients specifically undergoing stem cell transplant or intensive chemotherapy for leukemia. The patches were applied every 24 hours on 10 neutropenic patients throughout their hospital stays. Body temperature was recorded remotely with TempTraq in 10-minute intervals totaling 14,342 temperature measurements, versus the current SOC of one measurement every four hours.

Though it wasn’t tested in this study, Blue Spark’s TempTraq Connect, a secure, HIPAA-compliant service supported by the Google Healthcare Cloud Platform, will allow the patches to integrate directly with hospital central monitoring systems and electronic health records (EHR) to safely and securely store patient health care data. Nurses can then view the temperature in their system as frequently as needed and can receive real-time audible or visual temperature change alerts at patient bedsides and/or through the central nursing station. Plus, no more waking patients to take their temperatures, and the hygienic, single-use, disposable design eliminates the hassle, time and cost of sterilizing the device between uses.

The TempTraq system is scalable and can support a single hospital or a multi-hospital/physician group healthcare system.

The company will also be exhibiting at MEDICA in Hall 16, Booth C20-6.

For more information on TempTraq or the results of this study, please visit www.temptraq.com.

 

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About Blue Spark Technologies, Inc.

Headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, USA Blue Spark Technologies, Inc. is the leader in developing thin, flexible, printed power solutions for printed electronic systems, including solutions developed utilizing their thin, flexible proprietary battery technology. Blue Spark Technologies’ latest innovation, TempTraq®, is the only Bluetooth®, wearable temperature monitor in the form of a soft, comfortable patch that continuously, safely and comfortably, monitors body temperature for up to 72 hours and sends alerts to Apple® or Android™ compatible mobile devices. The company’s TempTraq Connect HIPAA-compliant service supported by Google Healthcare Cloud Platform allows parents and caregivers to monitor body temperature from anywhere. It also allows direct integration with health care provider electronic health records (EHR) systems and central nursing stations, providing a secure method of storing patient health care data.