I-Corps: Stoma-Wafer Care Management Tool Using Mobile Phone Technology

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a remote stoma monitoring and management technology to encourage telehealth for routine wound, ostomy, and continence (WOC) care consultations in order to reduce the burden on nurses, keep patients and the nurses safe from respiratory infections like COVID-19, and reduce the use of painful personal protective equipment (PPE) during routine checkups. This product may be adapted to wound care applications and used to monitor clinical wound healings with the use of 3D imaging.

The product seeks to improve the precision of wafer fit and overall ease of stoma management while simplifying the appliance-fit process and empowering patients with easy-to-use tools to manage their stomas. The mobile technology could be used as a scanning device as well as a healthcare package to support individuals that have undergone an ostomy.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of a software-based stoma-wafer inspection and fit tool that improves the precision of wafer fit and the overall ease of stoma management. In this system, a 3D model of the stomal area will be processed on a cloud-based backend, and an “ideal” aperture contour will be generated and used for automatic, high-precision wafer cutting.

The product could be a reference for rethinking medical imaging technology that typically requires expensive image acquisition systems such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). While the initial focus of the product is to provide an affordable stoma care management system for patients, the technology could be applied to a wide range of other wound care products and fasteners.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.