Shift Labs Wins Funding From Saving Lives at Birth Partnership to Improve Maternal and Child Health with DripAssist Infusion Rate Monitor
SEATTLE (PRWEB) May 23, 2018 -- Shift Labs, Inc., a Seattle-based company that designs and builds simple, high-quality medical technologies to drive healthcare equity worldwide, has been announced as a grantee of the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development. Shift Labs’ innovative approach targets simple, cost-effective devices as the key to transforming and improving access to quality healthcare.
“Some of the most inspiring news these days is about the moonshot efforts in healthcare like new cancer diagnostics and treatments and CAR-T cell therapy,” said Beth Kolko, CEO of Shift Labs. “Achieving healthcare equity is a moonshot all its own. We're excited to be leveraging technology to create simple, robust devices that increase global access to life-saving care."
With this new funding, Shift Labs’ award-winning DripAssist Infusion Rate Monitor will be validated as an IV infusion technology to reduce maternal and newborn deaths from conditions such as postpartum hemorrhage and eclampsia in developing nations. While medications to treat these conditions are already present in developing world clinics, many settings currently lack the right tools to administer therapeutics safely.
This clinical study will be conducted in partnership with Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi, under the direction of Dr. John Kinuthia, OB/GYN and Head of Research Programs at KNH. The study will research how nurses use DripAssist for oxytocin and magnesium sulfate administration during and immediately after labor, when a majority of maternal and newborn deaths occur. KNH is a leading referral hospital for specialized obstetrical care in Kenya.
"At KNH, were are looking forward to being on the leading edge of incorporating innovative technologies that improve clinical workflow, reduce burden on nurses, and improve patient care," said Dr. Kinuthia.
Shift Labs created DripAssist to allow clinicians in any setting to easily manage IV infusions without the cost or complexity of traditional infusion pumps. In low-resource settings where cost constraints and gaps in supply chains and/or clinical training are challenges, DripAssist provides the only FDA-cleared, CE-marked infusion technology that requires no calibration, ongoing maintenance, or extensive training.
The handheld DripAssist is the first reusable, lightweight infusion monitoring solution for IV medication management. It is currently being used throughout the US for outpatient infusion, and is also used to provide essential care in military field hospitals and developing world hospitals.
The Saving Lives at Birth partnership, launched in 2011, includes the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), the U.K's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). It is a global call for groundbreaking, scalable solutions to end infant and maternal mortality around the time of birth.
About Shift Labs
Shift Labs, Inc. is a Seattle-based company that creates well-designed medical devices for fast-growing healthcare sectors, everywhere from alternate site care in the US to hospital-based care in emerging markets. The DripAssist Infusion Rate Monitor is their first product and has previously been recognized as one of Popular Science Magazine’s 12 Best Healthcare Innovations of 2016, as well as receiving the MedTech Conference’s 2017 Global Health Innovation Award, a Silver Medal from the Industrial Designers Society of America IDEA awards, and a grant from USAID as part of the Ebola Grand Challenge.
Learn more at http://www.shiftlabs.com
Inquiries:
Contact CEO Beth Kolko, [email protected], or CTO Koji Intlekofer, [email protected] at +1 206.369.1216.
This press release is made possible through the generous support of the Saving Lives at Birth partners: the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), the U.K's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). It was prepared by Shift Labs, Inc. and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Saving Lives at Birth partners.
Beth Kolko, CEO, Shift Labs, Inc., http://www.shiftlabs.com, +1 2063691216, [email protected]
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