Improve Patient Communication in Hospitals

Four years ago my grandmother was living alone an assisted living community. She was doing very well and had made many friends with her fellow residents - all in all she was enjoying herself.

That all changed one Friday night.  After most of the employees had gone home for the weekend my grandmother happened to trip while walking across her kitchen. She shouted for help but there was no one there to hear. My grandmother remained on the floor with what was later discovered to be a broken hip for over 36 hours. 36 hours before a maintenance staff member happened to let herself into my grandmothers room to clean. 36 hours that my grandmother was alone, afraid and presumably in tremendous pain. She almost passed away that night and the danger she was placed in could have been avoided so easily. 


My Grandmother's story and the many like it I have heard since are what spurred me on to Co-Found YouCOMM LLC. YouCOMM LLC is a healthcare IT startup that offers a tablet based call bell system for patients in hospitals, rehab facilities, assisted living communities and other healthcare environments. The YouCOMM Room M8 allows patient to communicate with staff though Voice activated buttons. There is an additional option for a head motion controlled interface geared towards patients with motor impairments. 

YouCOMM LLC conducted a pilot study of our device with 30 patients. Patient and Staff Feedback was exceedingly high.  (See our original prototype working here: Watch Video!)


After the success of our pilot we moved on to develop our commercial product (see below). That's where YOU come in. 

YouCOMM is aiming to raise $5K to perform two large market trials of our device. These trials would consist of 2 parallel studies conducted at a large scale hospital and a rehabilitation facility in Connecticut. Once these trials are complete we will begin to supply our system to various healthcare facilities in the state. 

Help use help you! Lets work together to ensure that something like what happens to my grandmother never happens again.

Even a small contribution of just $3 can add up and help us increase the quality of care for patients in Connecticut and beyond!

Above: Real user feedback on an early prototype of the Room M8 device tested in our pilot trial

Above: YouCOMM Room M8 (Generation 2) user interface to be tested in the trials


Learn More: 
Within most hospital environments, communication is almost exclusively run by the utilization of some form of a call bell system. A survey of hospital nurses found that 53% felt the call bell system prevented or complicated critical aspects of their work, as nurses do not have a clear identification of what the need may be until they get to the patient’s room. Patients are also unsatisfied with current systems due to long wait times in getting their calls answered and having a lack of follow through with requests. The Room M8's  hands-free functionalities provide a solution to patients with hindered movements, such as those recovering from a surgical procedure or stroke, those with motor impairments, disorders such as cerebral palsy, or patients connected to multiple IVs among many others.  Studies show patients in these categories may be either physically incapable of using, or have a difficult time reaching and effectively interacting with the standard call bell system. 32% of patients within healthcare facilities suffer from at least 1 motor impairment. 19% of ‘traditional’ patients simply can use current call bells since they are often left, or fall, out of reach. This can be easily combated with a call bell that can react to voice or movement. 

To help healthcare institutions continuously improve their care, the YouCOMM Bed M8 is additionally able to track valuable data on how it is used, including the specific needs indicated by patients and the corresponding staff member response times. These capabilities are an important step towards enabling a technologically evolved “smart hospital”.


Meet our Team: