Teen’s smart device may revolutionize bed sore prevention

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A Shreveport teen is making a difference in the world with her groundbreaking invention, which she says could help save millions of lives.

Maya Trutschl, a 17-year-old junior at Caddo Parish Magnet High School, took first place in the embedded systems category at the 75th Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in Columbus, Ohio.

“Yeah, so I saw that hospitalized patients were very likely to develop these things called pressure injuries— commonly they’re known as bed sores. About 2.5 million people develop them annually in the US alone,” said Trutschl.

Maya created a small but smart device that monitors a patient’s movement and uses an algorithm to predict the risk of a bed sore before it develops … She says it’s a potential game-changer for nurses and hospitals.

“To prevent these pressure ulcers, nurses turn patients every 3 to 4 hours, but as you can imagine, that’s very manual and time-consuming,” said Trutschl. “They have no way in which to automatically know whether a patient has either turned themselves… Or when they have to go turn that patient.”

She says her invention uses a thermal camera and an algorithm to track patient positioning and alert staff when it’s time to change their positions.

“That machine learning model is then able to say, ok, this patient has been in a position for 3 hours… therefore, it’s suggested that we turn them,” said Trutschl.