The Problem We Solve
Pressure injuries (PIs), commonly known as bedsores, occur when a body region, especially around a bony prominence, experiences excessive pressure over a prolonged period. They affect approximately 2.5 million US patients annually, causing more than 60,000 deaths and costing US hospitals up to $26.8B.
An average, medium-sized hospital will experience in excess of 600 PIs each year, resulting in an average of 146 re-admissions, and costing the hospital more than $10 million in expenses annually.
One effective measure to prevent PIs is consistently repositioning patients to redistribute pressure and reestablish blood flow. However, doing so requires nursing staff to follow a repositioning protocol including manually changing the position of each patient every 2 hours. Staff shortages in combination with overuse injuries in nursing staff make manual repositioning a challenge for many hospitals.
The Sit Sense Medical Recliner changes the standard of care for PI prevention from a manual task to continuous, data driven care. It uses an anthropometric design, embedded sensors, and a unique repositioning strategy to reduce PI risk and caregiver injury risk at the same time.
Our Solution
The Sit Sense is an automated medical recliner that follows a proprietary repositioning protocol, using five articulating supports to optimize patient positioning. The co-founders’ research has shown that the unique positions in the protocol offload areas experiencing large pressures and restore blood flow to areas that were previously blocked. A patent has been issued; the prototype automated medical recliner has successfully been demonstrated at multiple hospitals in Southeast Michigan.
Pre-Production Prototype of the Sit Sense Medical Recliner
Sit Sense Features
The five independently-moving seat pan and back supports in the Sit Sense recliners use pressure and timing feedback to articulate and cyclically reduce pressure. The recliners have been shown to reduce, and in some cases, eliminate, pressures around the ischial tuberosities, coccyx, and sacrum, supporting reperfusion.
Articulations occur every 20 minutes, and both the timing and order of articulations can be customized to meet patient-specific needs. The unique and automatic Sit Sense recliner articulations mean that neither users nor nurses need to remember to reposition. Rather, the Sit Sense recliner will do it for them, reducing the risk of PIs like an electronic caregiver. Additionally, the data documenting these repositions can be automatically imported to medical record systems, again saving time and allowing nurses to do other patient-related task.
Meet the Sit Sense Founders
Justin Scott, Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics
Dr. Scott has researched pressure injury prevention since 2016 and has been deeply involved in the development of the Sit Sense technology since its creation in 2019 as designer of the original repositioning protocol. A passionate advocate for accessible recreation, Justin combines technical expertise with a deep understanding of the business ecosystem to transform research into products that enhance activities and quality of life for individuals of all mobility levels.
Tamara Reid Bush, Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics
Dr. Bush is a professor in Mechanical Engineering and the founding director Biomechanical Design Research Laboratory. She was awarded with the 2023 Savio L-Y. Woo Translational Biomechanics Medal by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Bioengineering Division for her career-long focus on translational biomechanics research. Her research in seating mechanics and interest in biomechanical design for people with disabilities and for individuals with reduced mobility in general, among others, led to the development of the Sit Sense technology.
Drs. Bush and Scott have collaborated on several grants related to the technology, including the NSF-PFI, Michigan State University Innovation Center ADVANCE, MTRAC Kickstart, and MTRAC grants.
Publications
Scott, Justin and Tamara Reid Bush. Shifting loads as a result of chair articulations and associated perfusion responses in the context of pressure injuries: An investigation with able-bodied individuals. Journal of Tissue Viability, 31(1), 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtv.2021.10.001
Scott, Justin and Tamara Reid Bush. Key Components Related to Pressure Injury Formation: An Initial Investigation Into Pressure Distribution and Blood Perfusion Responses in Wheelchair Users. Journal of Biomechanical Engineering 143(12), 2021. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4051888
Contact Us
Sit Sense, Inc.
Funding from NSF helped support the research that led to the development of Sit Sense and we want to recognize that. The work has a linage from prior research supported through the National Science Foundation grant – PFI 2044254.