SafeContact
Keeping Hospital Patients Safer
Using artificial intelligence technology to track hand hygiene compliance in healthcare facilities
When Dr. Kevin Maloney and Rod Schatz co-founded SafeContact, the pair saw an opportunity to apply artificial intelligence technology to track hand hygiene compliance in healthcare facilities to protect vulnerable patients from the deadly effects of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI) – an infection that patients pick up in hospital and other healthcare facilities.
The statistics of the HAI problem are staggering. In the USA, one in twelve people admitted to a hospital contract a HAI infection. This translates to 2 million patients a year and of those infected 99,000 patients die; three times the amount of deaths related to car accidents. What’s most interesting about this problem is that 70% of these infections are preventable through simple hand washing prior to contact with a patient, but only 20% of healthcare workers and visitors wash their hands with all patient contact leading to the transmission of pathogens.
SafeContact grew out of Schatz’s digital business strategy consulting work and co-authoring of a book about digital disruptions and its effects on business models, as well as Dr. Maloney’s healthcare experience. When the two read an article about the HAI problem and its deadly effects on society they realized that there was no current market place solution to protect patients from HAI. Applying their experience and tech knowledge, they figured out how to track hand hygiene to protect patients – creating SafeContact.
SafeContact is currently finishing up the work on their software prototype with the University of Alberta, “We are pioneering new technology and our partnership with the University of Alberta through the Federal Mitacs program has been a pivotal mechanism we used to leap frog our progress,” says Schatz. “By partnering with the University of Alberta we are able to leverage the skills of the third best AI school in the world. Additionally, we are fortunate to have recruited some top-notch advisors such as one of Microsoft’s Chief Data Scientists and other business advisors.”
Their prototype is set to be completed before Christmas (2018), after which SafeContact will focus on their next milestone – raising venture capital to take their product from prototype stage to commercial product.
“We firmly believe that our technology and business model are game changers and can help mitigate and prevent HAI’s globally. We are a high-tech social cause company headquartered in St. Albert [at NABI] and we would like to stay in the Edmonton region to become an employer of choice.”
