What happens when you cross the popular TV show Dragons’ Den with health-care professionals who have innovative ideas to improve patient care?
You get Discovery Den.
Discovery Den takes place on Nov. 13 with Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) professionals pitching ideas to a panel of judges asking for a chance to receive up to $50,000 in grant money to implement their innovative ideas to enhance patient-care through treatments and programs.
More than 20 proposals were initially submitted and have been narrowed down to three finalists.
The trio of health-care innovators will be pitching their ideas in front of a live audience and five judges who are community leaders – Sideshow (WOW FM radio host), Greg Brown (YGK Healthcare Champions), Jacqui Collier (Tamarack Homes), Barry Gordon (Gordon's Downsizing and Estate Services) and Tommy Hunter (Tommy’s restaurant).
Discovery Den will be hosted by KHSC's very own Dr. Lawrence Hookey, Medical Director of Endoscopy, and Emma Fitzgerald, YGK Healthcare Champion for the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation.
Here is a snapshot of the three initiatives:
- Initiative: Moving Heart Failure treatment from hospital to home: Dr. Aws Almufleh and Nurse Practitioner Sam Gouett of the Heart Function Clinic want to launch a program that saves stable heart failure patients from lengthy hospital stays by having them receive care at home. A paramedic will visit the patient to do routine tests and a virtual call with the cardiologist will make sure the patient is healing properly. This project was successfully implemented in the U.S. but this would be the first in Ontario.
- Initiative: Artificial Intelligence and atrial fibrillation: Dr. Stephanie Sibley and Dr. David Maslove are working with the Queen’s University School of Medicine to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) program to predict if a patient is at risk of the dangerous heart rhythm disturbance called Atrial Fibrillation (or Afib). New advances in AI present opportunities to create monitoring systems that turn a patient’s data into actionable feedback, enabling medical staff to anticipate the onset of Afib so that preventive measures can be taken. Preventing the development of Afib in the first place would result in better patient outcomes.
- Initiative: Virtual patient observation: Travis Wing is lobbying for Virtual Patient Observation (VPO), which can actively monitor patient behaviour for those at risk of an adverse event, such as a fall or removal of medical therapies. Some patients who are suffering from delirium or confusion need to be physically observed at all times. A VPO attendant, monitoring live audio and video equipment in the patient's room, can interact with patients displaying harmful behaviour and alert staff to intervene prior to an incident. VPO would free up resources by allowing one employee to observe multiple patients rather than watching one patient for an entire shift.
Discovery Den takes place on Nov. 13 at the University Club (168 Stuart St.) with doors opening at 4:30 p.m. and presentations beginning at 5:15. Tickets are $10 and includes cocktails and hors d'oeuvre. For more details and to purchase your tickets, visit the Discovery Den website.
