Medical sensors boost response to Italy’s COVID-19 crisis

An ERDF-funded project is helping to tackle the COVID-19 crisis in Italy. New sensors created by the project allow healthcare staff to monitor patients suffering from the disease at a distance.

MEDIWARN Project

The biosensors, created by the MEDIWARN project, can monitor a patient’s vital signs such as heartbeat, respiratory rate, blood pressure and body temperature. It is difficult and dangerous for medical and nursing staff to monitor COVID-19 patients in person. Patients infected and symptomatic need to be isolated in rooms with negative pressure. The new sensors allow staff to more easily monitor such patients from another room.

Using the sensors

Ten sensors are being used within the Infectious Diseases Operating Unit of the San Marco hospital in Catania, Sicily. Two more sensors are used in other operating units to monitor hospitalised patients suffering from other conditions.

Ten more of these sensors have already been purchased for the Mater Dei hospital in Malta and one for the University of Catania in order to carry out laboratory tests.

MEDIWARN is financed by the cross-border cooperation programme INTERREG V–A Italy Malta 2014-2020.

More information

European Commission- What´s new

Mediwarn Project