Episode #73: From a Napkin to a Smart Patch: Innovation Starts at the Bedside, with Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, nurse researcher and assistant professor at Montana State University's Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing

A question from a grieving parent that a research nurse couldn't answer became a smart patch the size of a quarter!

In this episode of the Smart Care Team Spotlight, Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, nurse researcher and assistant professor at Montana State University's Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing, traces how two clinical trial families redirected her entire line of inquiry. She walks through the development of Trialware, an encrypted, satellite-connected smart patch that hands local providers the de-identified information they need to make immediate care decisions while alerting the research team that their patient has walked through the door. She takes apart what outsiders misread about rural, frontier, and tribal access, from the gas, lodging, and cell coverage behind a single appointment to the aging populations that make lifespan-spanning facilities a design requirement rather than a nicety. Dr. Johnson also shares the Kind Room, a project that handed floor plans and crayons to 200 tribal and rural children and asked them what a space should feel like before it can help anyone heal.

Tune in to hear how a napkin sketch became a validated device, a children's book, and a case for putting clinical voice inside the built environment!

Resources:

• Connect with and follow Dr. Elizabeth Johnson on LinkedIn.

• Follow Montana State University-Bozeman on LinkedIn and explore their website!

• Learn more about the Nursing Institute for Healthcare Design on LinkedIn and visit their website!

• Discover the Alliance for Smart Healthcare Excellence on LinkedIn and check out their website!