Jim Byrne, a physical therapist at CHANS Home Health & Hospice, addresses an opportunity to reinvent the delivery of essential home health care.
“If we can’t change the patient’s environment, then we must change our own,” asserted Jim Byrne PT, DPT − a physical therapist at CHANS Home Health and Hospice – while highlighting opportunities for improving the delivery of essential home health care.
The Challenge
Home health nurses often find themselves setting up for wound or ostomy care in unconventional spaces such as bedroom bureaus or sofas due to limited alternatives. Working within these constraints can impact the quality of care that MaineHealth strives to deliver.
The Solution
Responding to the unmet clinical care need for a better patient and clinical experience, Jim began his innovation journey by sharing his novel idea during a Brewing Ideas Coffee Corner event. Jim went on to develop and refine a mobile standing desk, supported by the MaineHealth Innovation Ignite Fund. Jim worked with UMaine’s I-Corp program and USM’s Maker Innovation Studio (MIST Lab). MIST Lab helped Jim iterate countless prototypes of this versatile workstation. In total, Jim conducted over 100 customer and colleague tests to determine the best design.
This innovative solution saves clinician time during visits, improves patient engagement, and also improves workflow efficiency, saving 10-15 minutes a day due to real-time documentation in the home health care setting. The resulting workstation is adjustable, portable, stable and structurally safe while serving as a standing desk, sitting desk and treatment table that allows for medication review. The workstation also supports infection prevention practices. Jim’s colleagues at CHANS praise the workstation for its positive impact on the quality of patient care.
Next Steps
Jim is speaking with potential manufacturers and pursuing intellectual property licensing so that this innovative new product can get into the hands of MaineHealth home health care team members.
“Without MaineHealth Innovation this project would never have advanced beyond an idea. They have provided, and continue to provide me with, amazing support and direction. They helped me explore the idea, provided critical fabrication connections, and guided me every step of the way. Through my work I have rethought how to ‘innovate’ by incorporating my CHANS colleagues’ feedback into the design which has made for a much better product. I feel so lucky to have this opportunity and look forward to bringing the project to fruition. I believe it will foundationally change how health care is delivered in patient homes, and it would not have happened without the support of MaineHealth Innovation.”
– Jim Byrne, PT, DPT
L to R: Drew Sfirri, MIST Lead Technician and STEM Project Manager, University of Southern Maine, Jim Byrne, So Young Han, PhD, Director of Maker Innovation and Step-Up to STEM, University of Southern Maine, Jeremy S. Qualls, PhD, Dean of the College of Science, Technology, and Health, University of Southern Maine
Jim Byrne and Portable Workstation
Next Steps
Jim is speaking with potential manufacturers and pursuing intellectual property licensing so that this innovative new product can get into the hands of MaineHealth home health care team members.
Collaborators
- Jim Byrne, PT, DPT, CHANS Home Health & Hospice
- Jeremy S. Qualls, PhD, Dean of the College of Science, Technology, and Health, University of Southern Maine
- So Young Han, PhD, Director of Maker Innovation and Step-Up to STEM, University of Southern Maine
- Drew Sfirri, MIST Lead Technician and STEM Project Manager, University of Southern Maine
- Patsy Aprile, President, MaineHealth Care at Home
Our Purpose
MaineHealth Innovation builds connections to drive diversity of thought, educates to produce creative problem-solvers and funds to accelerate ideas. By leveraging the ideas, insights and expertise of all care team members to develop novel solutions to our unmet care needs, we are working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.
