New decision-making tool helps hospitals get patients off of the respirator faster

Continuous clinical counselling reduces patient length of stay by up to 25%

Intensive Care Units (ICU) are some of the most expensive hospitals units. ICU patients often end up requiring a respirator, with the severe patients very difficult to manage and return to normal breathing. This group of patients often has an extended length of stay at the ICU that not only increases healthcare costs, but also puts the patients at risk of further trauma. 24-hour specialist monitoring can significantly reduce respirator time, but with strained healthcare budgets, this is not an option.

Mermaid Care will automate decision-making with the BEACON Caresystem - a 24/7 "bed-side" professor, a clinical decision support system that is mounted on the existing ventilator. The system compares patient data with clinical treatment guidelines and provides continuous recommendations for ventilator settings for the ICU staff. BEACON´s unique approach allows ICU nurses to perform safe and personalised ventilator treatment themselves, offloading workload from specialist doctors.

In the project, Mermaid Care will carry out clinical studies with 500 ICU patients. Mermaid Care will document the reduction of the patient's length of stay in the ICU by an expected 15-25%. For a Danish ICU with 10 beds, this will mean an annual saving of up to DKK 10 million. The project helps Mermaid Care take the last important step on the way to a large, international market.

Help for tailoring focused applications to InnoBooster and SME Instrument

Through close dialogue with Mermaid Care, we helped put the entire project in a funding context so that communication was targeted to the funds' criteria. Ultimately, we wrote the applications that won the company DKK 4.9 million from InnoBooster and DKK 17 million from the SME Instrument to implement the project. The applications presented the project's high level of innovation and unique technology. Moreover, we helped them craft a compelling business case that clearly showed the benefits for hospitals, for the society and for Mermaid Care.

"Mermaid Care chose to work with Techfunding.eu for help with the application process. Techfunding has been a great partner in the process and highly professional. They have extensive experience in public grants and have been instrumental in ensuring that Mermaid Care won the support."

- Jørgen Hansen, CEO, Mermaid Care A/S