Cellphone-Sized Device Monitors IV Infusions

A portable electronic drop counter easily and accurately monitors the drip rate of gravity intravenous (IV) infusion sets.

The Shift Labs (Seattle, WA, USA) and Hometa (Albany, NY, USA) DripAssist infusion rate monitor is designed to precisely monitor the rate of an infusion via gravity drip, displaying infusion rate in real time and monitoring changes within one percent of true. After clipping DripAssist onto the gravity set, the drip rate is adjusted on the IV set, and the alarm is set; the 75dB alarm sounds when rate change exceeds +/-13%, or when fluid flow stops. The device runs on one AA battery for 360 hours, and clips on to almost any tubing set. No calibration or maintenance are required.

“Shift Labs developed DripAssist specifically to meet the needs of healthcare settings that benefit from simple and accessible technologies that don’t require maintenance or extensive training,” said Beth Kolko, CEO and co-founder of Shift Labs. “DripAssist has been deployed in over 200 healthcare settings, from military field settings to outpatient settings throughout America. In the past year, the United States Air Force partnered with Shift Labs to use DripAssist to provide life-saving infusions to wounded soldiers in austere battlefield settings that lack equipment, power supply, and time.”

“We are extremely pleased to add this technology platform to our initial portfolio for IV infusion administration, since DripAssist connects the inherently lower pressure mechanism of gravity infusion with the accuracy of infusion pump flow rate monitoring,” said Jeff Hover, President and CEO of Hometa. “We are excited about working with Shift Labs on the development of future generations of the DripAssist technology that will increase flow rate control to the lower pressure IV administration and measurement accuracy features.”

Related Links:
Shift Labs
Hometa