Interreg

The demographic development in the Netherlands and Germany presents nursing services with ever greater challenges. More and more older people are in need of care. This will inevitably require more nursing staff, with the result that there is a need for care in both countries. At the same time, the increased demand for documentation drastically reduces the time available to the “customer”.

One of the most important points in nursing is promoting the drinking behavior of older people. According to expert interviews, a balanced fluid balance is the simplest and most effective means of increasing the vitality and well-being of the persons to be cared for. Therefore, the project consortium wants to develop a digital voiding diary with automated urinalysis as a plug and play device.

The technical implementation is based on the previous joint developments of the companies Medipee and Idenova within the INTERREG project “Digipro” (development project “P1med”). The prototype to be developed is a fist-sized device with which almost any toilet can be retrofitted. As soon as the device detects urine flow and the user desires an analysis, an automatic and non-contact measurement takes place within a few seconds. The output of the measured data takes place on a digital terminal (smartphone, tablet etc.). The basic technology is protected by patents on the part of Medipee. In addition, by analyzing patterns in the measurement data of the temperature, acceleration, position and structure-borne sound data sensors, the characteristic bladder emptying parameters (eg urinary flow rate, urination duration) are to be deduced. The description shows that the project is a very complex and interdisciplinary task. Questions from the field of medicine, measurement technology, electronics, manufacturing, modeling as well as data analysis have to be answered.