Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - An incentivised technical solution aimed at empowering and improving the care of patients living in the community with COPD

Tender description

Tallaght University Hospital is seeking an incentivised technical solution to empower and improve the care of patients living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in the community. The solution should provide patients with a tailored domiciliary activity programme that incorporates all of the key components of a standard PR programme. It will measure patient progress and provide feedback on this progress to the patient. There will be an incentivisation (goal setting and rewards) and gamification component built into the programme that will encourage patients to incrementally increase their activity and maintain their progress. The technology must be user friendly and simple enough for our patient population to use, since many may be unfamiliar with digital based innovations. Sometimes patients get exacerbations of their COPD and may not be able to exercise as intensely and they may stop exercising rather than exercising at a lower intensity. The most functional and practical exercise component is aerobic exercise and patients need to be able to track how far they are walking, for example, and at what speed and incline they are walking at. It would also be useful to have a pacing component so that patients know if they are walking too fast or too slow.