It seems that electronic technology is driving innovation in the world of incontinence with the announcement of another sensor technology for determining the dampness of a incontinence pad.

With a two-fold purpose of improving urinary incontinence care while standardizing data collection, Gweepi Medical Inc. is developing a wireless sensor and software system for nursing homes and other healthcare providers.

Gweepi’s disposable sensor patch is applied to a pad. When it becomes wet, the wireless sensor sends an alert to nursing staff, who can attend to the wearer immediately. We’ve already mentioned similar systems in our news section over the last 12 months but what’s interesting about the Gweepi system is that it also stamps and stores the time and severity of the episode, opening up the potential for a personalized care plan based on aggregated data.

Automating the collection and aggregation of data related to incontinence incidents could make it easier for nursing homes to gather quality metrics and help put together more tailored continence management programmes to better meet user’s needs.

Inspired by a family member who had a diaper alert system for a child, Shivaprakash saw the opportunity in the senior care market and joined up with former classmate Matt Racki, a software engineer, to form Gweepi. They now have a functional prototype and are working on refining their business model.

Shivaprakash said there are multiple avenues the company could take for marketing the product but for a start, the company has a commitment from an East Coast nursing home to pilot the system there and will be actively looking for funding in the near future.