The first practical innovation in nursing competition: April 26, 2024

The first Practical Innovation in Nursing Competition, hosted by the Business Affairs Management Office, Technology Transfer Office, and Hospital Management Office of Peking University Health Science Centre (PKUHSC), was held on April 26, 2024, which also marked the 24th World Intellectual Property Day. As one of a series of events organized as part of Peking University’s Intellectual Property Publicity Month, the competition attracted extensive attention, with a full house at the venue and over 1.33 million scientists, clinicians, nurses, and students joining remotely. Being the first competition centered on practical innovation in nursing organized by PKUHSC, the competition focused on the characteristics of nursing as a discipline and the significant role nursing plays in clinical practice, health care, rehabilitation, and other fields, with the aim of providing a platform for the nursing discipline within PKUHSC to display its scientific and technological (S&T) innovation and research capabilities, thereby promoting the discipline’s development and facilitating the practical realization and implementation of the research. 2024 is the “Year of Discipline Quality” of Peking University, and Nursing is one of the “Double First-class” disciplines of PKUHSC. Thus, collaboration and innovation play an important role in the discipline’s development. This competition, focused on innovation and implementation, aims to encourage clinical nurses to participate, lead, and promote the practical realization and implementation of nursing research. It is my hope that this competition can stimulate the innovative vitality and professional ability of clinical nurses, and, looking forward beyond this event, lead to the discovery of more prospective, pragmatic and scalable nursing innovation projects, and achieve their implementation, thereby providing a new impetus of quality productive forces for the development of nursing at Peking University. Yuan Xiao, Deputy Director, PKUHSC. Sixty-three projects from Peking University’s School of Nursing and 10 affiliated hospitals took part in the competition, with 10 projects related to S&T research, disease control and prevention, health management, and other areas winning awards. “Development and application of radial artery hemostasis technology with trans-radial access (TRA),” led by Zhenhui Tao, deputy director of the Department of Nursing at Peking University First Hospital, won first prize. The project focused on TRA, a widely adopted therapeutic approach for coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. However, complications such as radial artery occlusion (RAO), access site bleeding, and hematoma remain problematic. Currently, the radial artery hemostatic device used in clinical practice is unable to achieve accurate quantification of pressure, and it is difficult to balance the dual risks of radial artery occlusion and bleeding by relying solely on experience and manual operation. Given these challenges, this project took the lead in developing the world-first patented “hemostatic device with quantitative pressure” technology, and in exploring a model of radial artery hemostatic pressure and continuous decompression combining hemodynamics, physics, and coagulation mechanisms, thereby standardizing the postoperative hemostasis process, reducing complications, and improving comfort, research possessing immense clinical, economic and social value. “An intelligent recommendation system for dementia care based on knowledge graph,” led by Dr Zhiwen Wang, director of PKUHSC’s Centre for Evidence-based Nursing won second prize. The growing number of older people suffering from dementia presents an array of challenges requiring ongoing professional guidance, while the current shortage of personnel has resulted in a supply-demand imbalance. This project, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, aims to develop technology capable of translating research evidence and expert experience into an intelligent recommendation system for dementia care. The project contains two significant innovations. First, it utilizes a personalized multicase data set of highly reliable information as its corpus and integrates research evidence and clinical experience into a dementia care-specific knowledge graph, which has been granted an invention patent. Second, it compares various algorithmic models to extract graph features and develops an intelligent dementia care recommendation system based on the acquired knowledge graph, innovations that have secured 2 software copyrights in addition to one ongoing patent application. This recommendation system could be implemented in the home, in the community, as well as in long-term care facilities, offering personalized care guidance via virtual experts, promoting service inclusivity, enhancing service efficiency, reducing complications, hospitalization, and emergency medical treatment costs, and alleviating the disease burden. System evaluation, including performance, effectiveness, safety, economy, and social suitability, has been completed, and algorithm optimization, by means of 13,773 interaction records to improve accuracy, has been achieved. The project “Intelligent endoscopy dual pathway: construction of an innovative endoscopy center based on Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things (AIoT),” led by Bei Li, head nurse in the Gastrointestinal Surgery Department of Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, also won second prize. This project derives from clinical necessity and targets some of the “pain points” and blind spots within nursing practice, leveraging a collaboration of medicine and industry with the Internet, the Internet of Things, and AI technology at its core, to bring about high-quality endoscopy nursing services by means of intelligent approaches. The “patient-endoscopy” dual pathway closed-loop management system links together all aspects of diagnosis and treatment, serving the needs of nurses and patients by creating a streamlined, automated process, displaying remarkable achievements in areas such as information exchange, precision management, and resource optimization. This system is embedded with an integrated robot for digestive endoscopy and colonic irrigation, smart storage, smart endoscopic retracing, human-machine recognition, doctor-nurse-patient-endoscope information linkage, resuscitation monitoring, whole process management, and other innovative tools. This system ensures digital management throughout the entire process, stimulating the “high-quality productivity forces” of nursing and refining the medical treatment process for patients. “A functional rehabilitation trainer and rehabilitation system for oropharyngeal facial muscles” led by Aili Wang, head nurse in the Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Department of Peking University First Hospital, won third prize. The research pointed out that the snoring population increases by more than 70 million each year, >80% of whom experience stroke, sexual dysfunction, marital disharmony, and other problems. Seventy percent of traffic accidents are related to sleeplessness, and the fatality rate among snorers is as high as 3.8 times that of the general population. Moreover, treatment needs are difficult to meet due to high treatment costs, poor compliance, and other reasons, resulting in poor treatment outcomes. This training program includes an information module and phone applet, which is connected to the trainer via Bluetooth to guide and assist the training, strengthen the localized muscles on a noninvasive basis, relieve the stenosis of the oropharyngeal plane, and expand the airway. Different from conventional training models, this system is suitable for use in any available pocket of time, at any place, and for users of all ages. It can not only provide therapeutic training, reducing or eliminating sleep snoring, thus addressing both the cause and symptoms of the affliction, but also effective preventive training for snoring. Moreover, it can be used in the precise rehabilitation treatment of tongue and facial muscles of elderly patients suffering from dysphagia, choking while eating, mild Parkinson and facial paralysis. “Clinical application and research of finger and toe support device,” led by JiaGao from Peking University First Hospital’s Daxing Campus, also won third prize. The research pointed out that each year in China, millions of patients undergo finger or toe surgery, involving debridement and dressing changes, and tens of millions of patients are treated for impregnated tinea pedis. Each time, the procedure is made extra challenging by the need to manually separate the fingers (toes). The proposed device would assist the separation of single or multiple fingers and toes to an adjustable degree of opening, providing a more spacious operative site and bringing improved patient comfort and satisfaction. The device has already undergone clinical trials, where it has been shown to significantly increase the operative site area, save manpower, and improve the efficiency of the relevant procedures. It addresses a gap in existing technologies and resolves a challenge faced in current clinical practices. The market potential of this device is promising: utilizing cost-effective, disposable, and hypoallergenic materials, it offers substantial profits within a market valued at hundreds of millions of yuan. Its versatility extends to both home and hospital settings, catering to patients undergoing finger and toe surgeries, requiring dressing changes, and the tens of millions of individuals suffering from immersion-type tinea pedis. “A dark room test eye mask for glaucoma patients,” led by Jinping Hu, deputy president of the Airport Campus of Peking University Third Hospital, also won third prize. The dark room test has a certain value for the early diagnosis of suspected angle-closure glaucoma and is widely used in the clinical area. However, the test requires an absolutely dark room, posing problems such as patient safety risks, timing inaccuracies, and poor experiences. To address these concerns, they have designed a dark room test eye mask that is small, breathable, and tightly sealed, with automatic timing and alert functions based on clinical practice needs, aiming to improve patients’ peace of mind as well as the efficiency of dark room tests in glaucoma diagnosis. The product has already been granted a utility model patent, and a 3D model prototype has been produced. The team is currently seeking qualified manufacturing partners to begin sample production and clinical implementation research, to better conduct market promotion. “An electronic manometric radial artery hemostatic wristband” led by Juntao Duan, head nurse at the Catheter Laboratory of Peking University Third Hospital, won the Excellence Award. In 2023, there were more than 1.63 million cases of interventional treatment for coronary heart disease in mainland China (military hospital data not included), with 97.20% of patients undergoing surgery via radial artery access. Postsurgery, a hemostatic wristband should be used to compress the puncture site of the radial artery for a long time in order to stop bleeding. However, the wristbands lack the ability to quantify the compression pressure. Both excessive or insufficient pressure can compromise the hemostatic effect and may even lead to complications such as hematoma, forearm swelling, and radial artery occlusion. The manometric radial artery hemostatic wristband is much more user-friendly and effective. Via a blood pressure monitoring device, the pressure applied to the puncture point can be fed back to caregivers in real time, and the status of the applied hemostatic pressure is adjusted by operators based on experience, thereby effectively reducing complications. The hemostatic wristband has completed patent transfer and sample production and is now registered and awaiting approval. “An infusion tube monitoring clamp” led by YongGao, head nurse in the Emergency Department of Peking University Third Hospital Airport Campus, also won the Excellence Award. To ensure accuracy and patient safety during drug administration, nurses must regularly monitor infusion rates to ensure they remain within a safe range, be aware of the progression of different patients’ infusions, and be available to change infusion bags in a timely manner. To address these issues and alleviate nurses’ burden, an infusion tube monitoring clamp was designed, using infrared technology to monitor and display infusion drip speeds on a screen, facilitating nurses’ documentation during ward rounds. Once the infusion is completed, the device automatically sounds an alarm to alert nurses to replace the infusion bag. Currently, the utility model patent has been approved, and samples have been designed and produced. The device is anticipated to be affordable, compact, and suitable for widespread use in general wards and infusion rooms, indicating significant promotional value. “An improved surgical towel,” presented by QiuyanChen, a surgical nurse from Peking University First Hospital, also won the Excellence Award. A well-designed, innovative surgical towel that swiftly establishes a sterile perineal area during lithotomy surgery without the need to lift patients repeatedly, optimizing the surgical process and enhancing surgical efficiency. In addition, the towel reduces the risks of sacrococcygeal pressure injuries and intraoperative hypothermia, alleviates occupational low back pain among nurses, and greatly improves satisfaction among medical staff. Currently, the product has been fully launched to market in Peking University First Hospital as well as in numerous other hospitals in China and will be promoted to hospitals nationwide in the near future. “An ophthalmic prone position detector” led by Jia Liu, head nurse of the Ophthalmology Department at Peking University People’s Hospital, also won the Excellence Award. The prone position detector is a head position monitoring device for use after eye surgery. It is applied to patients with intraocular fillers who require prolonged head fixation following ophthalmic vitreoretinal surgery. The detection device allows for the setting of a body position change threshold, enabling appropriate limb movement within the permissible range to prevent skin pressure damage due to prolonged bed rest. The device is technically supported by AI design and computer chip engineers from the Beijing Institute of Technology. Currently, the detector sample is undergoing joint debugging testing and will commence clinical trials shortly.