Pioneering Tech Solutions for Better Patient Care with Jayiesh Singh from Able Innovations

Episode Overview

Episode Topic: In this episode of Skeleton Crew – The Rad Tech Show,   we engage in a discussion that extends to the rapid evolution of the innovative world of radiography and associated technologies with Jayiesh Singh, CEO of Able Innovations, focusing on revolutionizing patient handling. We discover deep into how cutting-edge technology, particularly robotics, is transforming healthcare workflows. shares insights into the founding of his company and the development of the ALTA Platform™, which is revolutionizing patient transfers in healthcare settings.

Lessons You’ll Learn: Listeners will gain valuable insights into the intersection of technology and healthcare, discovering how robotic innovation is shaping the future of patient care. Jayiesh discusses the core challenges in patient handling that Able Innovations aims to address and highlights the key benefits of using their technology for both patients and healthcare workers. Moreover, he shares insights into upcoming projects and developments, providing a glimpse into the future of healthcare efficiency.

About Our Guests: Jayiesh Singh, CEO of Able Innovations Inc., brings a wealth of experience in cutting-edge technology and a passion for positive social impact, particularly in healthcare. With a background in the solar industry and robotic systems, Jayiesh founded Able Innovations to address the core challenges in patient handling and improve healthcare workflows. His commitment to innovation and social impact has driven Able Innovations to the forefront of revolutionizing patient care.

Topics Covered: Throughout the episode, we cover a range of topics, including the founding of Able Innovations and the inspiration behind the ALTA Platform™. Jayiesh shares insights into the challenges and triumphs of integrating advanced technology into healthcare and discusses how Able Innovations ensures its solutions are user-friendly for healthcare staff. Additionally, he offers valuable advice to other tech innovators looking to make a positive impact in healthcare. Tune in to discover how radiology innovation is transforming patient care and healthcare efficiency.

Our Guest: Jayiesh Singh- A Pioneering in Healthcare Innovations

Episode Transcript

Jay Singh: We envision our technologies, not this exact technology, but future versions of it that can be placed in individual’s home care settings that can get them in and out of bed onto a wheelchair, allowing them to age in a setting of their preference. Really providing a better quality of life where they can spend three, 4, or 5 years with their loved ones. That’s transformative.

Jennifer Callahan: Welcome to the Skeleton Crew. I’m your host, Jen Callahan, a technologist with 10+ years of experience. In each episode, we will explore the fast-paced, ever-changing, sometimes completely crazy field of radiology. We will speak to technologists from all different modalities about their careers and education, the educators and leaders who are shaping the field today, and the business executives whose innovations are paving the future of radiology. This episode is brought to you by xraytechnicianschools.com. If you’re considering a career in X-ray, visit xraytechnicianschools.com to explore schools and to get honest information on career paths, salaries, and degree options. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Skeleton Crew. Today I have the pleasure with me, Jay Singh. He’s from Able Innovations and he’s here today to talk about, not so much, I feel like the trend that we’ve been on is like AI technology, but he’s more so helping with the body mechanics of technologists that are out in the field with what his company, Able Innovations, is doing. So we’re taking a little different approach today for the world of radiology. So Jay, thanks so much for being with me this morning.

Jay Singh: Thanks so much for having me, Jen. Appreciate it.

Jennifer Callahan: Yeah, I just did a brief little overview of what Able Innovations is doing. We’re like body mechanics for technologists. Can you just give a basic of what the company is doing at this point?

Jay Singh: Yeah, absolutely. So what we really do is we’re developing robotics that can automate the most labor-intensive tasks in healthcare, which, as you can imagine, is lifting and moving individuals who don’t have any control over their own weight. What I found with healthcare workers were getting injured at higher rates than construction workers. And when we looked at this trend, we were like, is this something that we can really automate? So what we have developed, our first product is the Alta platform. And what that does is it can transfer patients who are supine between tables, stretchers, whatever have you beds at the push of a button. And it’s really easy to use. And that can transform workflows. It can improve clinical throughput. And most importantly, it supports our frontline staff, our technologists, technicians, and doing their day-to-day job and prevents career-ending injuries because individuals get into this profession to provide compassionate care, at the end of the day, not lift and move patients. And the second trend is also reporting, but we think we can automate the lifting and moving of patients.

Jennifer Callahan: So I was on your website prior to our meeting this morning and watching it is pretty interesting how the whole platform pushes out and then goes underneath the patient and then basically pulls the patient back onto that. So it’s almost like how my normal practice is that when we’re moving patients, no matter where you’re using a slide board, essentially where you’re rolling the patient halfway towards the one side, and then we’re placing the board underneath, and then you’re sliding the patient. You’re using that basically as a bridge to bridge over to the other area. And the slide board is what we call it. It’s not slippery, but it’s easy for fabric to move across it. So it’s great because like you were saying, it avoids the injuries because some of these patients unfortunately are upwards of 300 plus pounds. Sometimes that’s not always the case. But even if you have patients who are under 200 pounds when someone can help themselves or even help move, they’re dead weight and they’re heavy.

Jay Singh: That’s exactly it. And as soon as you have more than one person, you have to be right on point. Because if one person starts pulling or pushing too early and the second one is half a second late, well, you’re carrying most of the load and you’re going for it when you’re transferring a patient. And that’s where a lot of back controller injuries happen. And the slider boards are great if used properly. But the key problem is it’s in that “if used properly” because you’re doing these in a fast-paced environment, lots of things are happening and it’s next to impossible for you to get it right every single time, and next impossible increasingly now, to have the right amount of resources to conduct the transfer with heavier patients and more acute patients.

Jennifer Callahan: Right. Especially too, so in the department that I work in interventional radiology, we have some very sick patients who have to come to the department. Things cannot be done affordably there. So patients are coming there vented. They have a lot of IVs and things. So there are lots of different things that have to be taken into account. When you’re transferring a patient, you don’t want to pull too far out on an intubated person basically is what I’m trying to say. That’s an, Pull a line, I would say like.

Jay Singh: Exactly, and that’s a risk when you’re doing everything in a jerk motion because you’re doing it quickly. A lot of things can happen in that half a second. So we’ve looked at this process and tried to reimagine it. So yeah, there’s the board. What we’ve done is we’d like another technology more like a rollaboard. So it’s a conveyor belt surface. And we’ve really focused on patient skin integrity because a lot of individuals are geriatric as well. We want to make sure that the skin integrity is preserved. And as you were describing, it’s all automated too. So you just line our device up, whether it’s a CT couch, a bed, or a table, and you hit go and our platform extends out, it pushes down and detects the type of surface it is. It’s automatically doing this. And then it starts to roll under the patient like a conveyor belt so that it’s not pulling or pushing on their skin. And once it’s fully replaced them, and it’s doing this at a decent pace like the 30s to get underneath. So what that allows the staff to do is put their hand on the shoulder of the patient if they are conscious and talk to them and turn this usually undignified experience into something that’s a good interaction. And at the same time, to your point about intubation and anything you can stop this, you can pause this at any point you can monitor. And since it’s happening at a very manageable pace, you can manage all the intubations and everything. So there are a lot of key advantages to doing it that way.

Jennifer Callahan: So I’m thinking myself talking about geriatric very much, usually very fearful of falling. Usually, if they’re coming in, say, for an x-ray or they’re having a CAT scan or something. They’re there, probably, not to say mostly for it, but it’s probably because they have fallen. They might possibly have a broken bone, or they’ve fallen in the past. They might just be there for other reasons besides orthopedic. But we find in many settings like that, when you are transferring them and you’re using that sliding board and you’re doing that half roll motion, it scares them. They start clinging to whoever is on the side that they’re being rolled to. They try to grab onto you. And from myself as a technologist, I always try to assure them, “We’re going to roll you halfway. I just need you to keep your arms across your body like this. Just give yourself a hug like you’re safe.” You try to reassure them, but it’s scary for them. They’re being rolled almost onto their side, and they’re afraid they’re going to roll off to the table. So this is a great development where that fear is completely removed or that motion, I should say, that will cause that fear is completely removed.

Jay Singh: Absolutely. And I’ll give you one anecdote. In some scenarios, especially in geriatric rehab, where you have individuals with various comorbidities and they may have early onset dementia as well, they may not take it very nicely when their personal space is being violated or invaded, especially if they’re being put in a lift or a sling. The slider board is another example of transfers, and in some cases, they may sedate these individuals and patients just to make sure that everything is safe. What we’ve found is with our technology, it’s very calm, individuals feel dignified and you don’t have to necessarily take those steps. So that also helps on both sides. It helps you as a technologist provide care, have a better interaction with the patient. And the patient also feels that they’re being handled in a very respectful way and they don’t feel scared.

Jennifer Callahan: Speaking of another type of device to help move, you were saying a sling? I was thinking before we started recording was about the Hoyer lift. And that’s another thing where you have to roll the patient a little bit because you have to get that sling underneath of them and then you have to lift them, which is another scary thing. They’re being lifted out of the bed and moved through the air to be placed down on another side. Now in tight situations, it’s definitely helpful. I’ve used it in an outpatient setting for patients that are on stretchers, but again, there’s that fear factor that patients have. I don’t know if I’d want to be lifted up into the air personally.

Jay Singh: And I’ll just give you another information. The technologies around transferring patients have not changed in the last 70, or 80 years. Like the slang, the same patent for the Hoyer lift. The first patent is the same patent for lifting engines out of a car. It’s just how you manage heavy weights. That’s all it’s about. So that hasn’t really changed. We’re 70, 80 years on. Technology has progressed so much. But that’s also why I feel like this area is ripe for innovation. And right now it’s a good time because everybody’s talking about the well-being of our technologists, of our nurses. And we believe technology can play a big role there.

Jennifer Callahan: For sure. So where was the light bulb moment for something like this to be developed?

Jay Singh: I’ll just tell you very quickly about me and what really motivates me. So I started off my career in the robotics industry, and I had only one thesis, which was to develop technology for good. I started off in the solar industry and was fortunate enough to work in one of the world’s most innovative solar companies, I was tasked with developing a robotic system for them that allowed their panels to point at the sun all day long, and this would go into massive fields. So I did quite a few years doing that, and I developed my engineering skillset there. But on a personal level, at the same time, my mom worked and still works in Long Tum Care, and I’ve spent a lot of time in geriatric care, and I can really empathize with the predicament of the caregivers as well as the residents and patients. And one thing that I noticed that was a big pain point for all sides families and patients and even the caregivers, including my mom. You have the transfer process. It’s very undignified. It requires a lot of effort from the front-line staff, and there are never enough resources. And my mom’s been injured lifting and moving patients. And no matter how much you try to follow the rule book on body mechanics, you’re building up debt. Like you’re building up musculoskeletal debt. And one day, if you’re lifting a newspaper and you’re not moving your patient, well, that’s probably the cause of your injury. And people are getting injured early on. So this was something I was motivated to want to solve from a very young age. And I’ve always wanted to look at transfers as something that if you can even allow for them to happen at home.

Jay Singh: The story of an older couple living together, one of them has a fall in the tub and breaks their hip. That’s the last night they’re going to spend together, right? And a big part of that is their older spouse can get them in and out of bed after that. So part of that vision of the company is let’s focus on this transfer, part of things because in all settings, an inpatient and outpatient settings, and home care settings. These transfers are very complex and require manpower that’s increasingly scarce. So the light bulb moment was when I was just doing the research on the trends in our aging population, and this is back in 2016, 2017, is the number of nurses going to keep up with that? The answer is no. Are the number of facilities going to keep up with that? The answer is no. So the reality is you have to do more with less. You have to automate things. And that’s kind of where I started in 20 1819 started the thesis of Able innovations, focusing on revolutionizing patient transfers and handling.

Jennifer Callahan: I was thinking about it while we were discussing this move, and obviously, we’re based around radiology at this point. Is the bed MRI safe?

Jay Singh: So we are focusing on CT. MRI, It’s just a matter of swapping certain components. We’ve just launched commercially just for full context a year and a half ago. So there is a lot of demand on the MRI side and we’re looking into it. But at the moment our current commercial model is not, but future versions will be.

Jennifer Callahan: Obviously, you said that this is like in newer development and you are looking into MRI-safe components and stuff. Are there other units that you’re looking to develop maybe for wheelchair transfer or something along those lines? I don’t know, my mind’s just spinning.

Jay Singh: Yeah, absolutely. So what we found is as we got into the market, we made a bit of a general device that can cater to the 95th percentile of the population, which is around £350, around six foot two that size, and mostly supine transfers. And then what we started seeing was a lot of healthcare specialization wanted this technology, but wanted a slight tweak, and some it just fit in right away. So in diagnostic imaging, this is a really good device because for CT scans and X-rays, yeah, individuals can come in on their stretcher. Sometimes they’re waiting outside. So you don’t have the porters or escorts and the technologist is tasked with transferring them. Well, you can have this device there because you’re also pressured with throughput. You need to get the patient turned around pretty quickly. Sometimes you may try to do more and you don’t have the right resources, and you’re sacrificing your body with this device. You don’t have to do that. You don’t have to wait for additional staff. In diagnostic imaging specifically, there is a really unique value that our technology brings, which is you can handle inpatient, outpatient, and heavier patients by yourself as a technologist and conduct these transfers if they’re supine. We want to do additional modalities of transfers, as you mentioned, that two wheelchairs recalled that the holy grail. But there’s a lot more complexity to go from lying down to that. We believe we’ll get there in a couple of years. The most recent frontiers are specializations of MRI. You read my mind is definitely when we’re doing bariatric, so going up to that bariatric is infinite. You can get as high, but we do have certain goalposts on where we want to hit the weight scale, but then that changes the size.

Jay Singh: Then you’re looking at the hybrid or that a thing or two about different types of surgery procedures, where our device might need some small tweaks to do that. And in the future, we see this as a device that can potentially automate the logistics of patients. If we’re lifting them, one thing that we haven’t discussed is our device has a very unique that drive system. So it’s not like a Stryker Zoom stretcher or just assists you in going forward. It can also go left and right like Crabwalk, which is very unique. And we’ve done this in a very neat way. That’s very intuitive. So as you can imagine we can add in navigation, it can find its way across hospital departments and deliver patients just in time so you can start to get more efficient as a facility. Another thing that we were looking at is the burden on staff. And we talked about burnout. A big part of burnout is your interdependency. If you’re ready to do something and now you’re waiting on even if it’s a small amount or you’re coordinating, that adds burden and workload. If you can do things independently that you should be able to, it makes your work life a bit better. And that’s another thing that we really focused on, is this thing needs to be really simple. So while it looks simple, on the inside we are using AI, we are using robotics. But that’s not your problem. You need something that just works every time and transfers. And that’s what we focused on.

Jennifer Callahan: What if they needed their head elevated? Obviously, you can put a pillow, but I’m just thinking to myself, does the platform possibly elevate a little bit?

Jay Singh: We have a Trendelenburg creature that you could leverage. However, for respiratory patients, for example, where they need a certain angle at the moment we’re using wedges or pillows. That’s one of the examples in the next generations that will be something that will be addressing elevating the patients as well.

Jennifer Callahan: So while you’re in the midst of developing this, did you meet any challenges that stopped you guys in your tracks and you had to switch ways that you were going?

Jay Singh: I’ll liken this whole process to peeling the layers of an onion because we started off with, let’s automate transfers and let one person do it in the simplest form, which is lateral supine. So when we and the clinicians were very excited we did that. We showed that one nurse can push a button and get a patient from whatever surface they are to our device, and then from our device to wherever they need to go. And that improved efficiency. But then it was the next step which is moving stretchers is not a one-person job technically as per OSHA, depending on the loads. Then they were like, well, great, you can transfer, but now you can’t move the patient with one. We can’t allow that. So you have to work on the movement of the device. That was an interesting one. Then we got into this world of trying to engineer the movement of essentially stretchers. But we are not a stretcher, but the movement and the motorization where we again innovated beyond the standard and we focused on the micro-movements if you may or the last inch delivery, which is often the hardest, is if you’re misaligned by a couple of inches, the stretcher is misaligned and you want to nudge it in, that’s when your body is putting the most force.

Jay Singh: So one thing we focused on then was engineering for that. And then as we go forward, we’re going into different clinical areas. Respiratory is one example where there’s a demand for the feature that you just mentioned, the elevation there. So it’s all been really good and positive because there is a key need. But as we’re doing something brand new, something like this has never existed before. They’re always new, I call them opportunities rather than challenges because everybody’s really excited about this. And there’s a key need. It’s not a barrier. Everybody’s like if you can do this, it will be so great. And then we’ll use it for this setting. It’s not nobody says we don’t want to use it because it can’t do it. It’s a very different mindset.

Jennifer Callahan: Is this something that has to go through FDA approval or does OSHA do approval?

Jay Singh: Absolutely. Even, for example, your orthotics or medical devices too. So it’s a slider board. So we are registered with the FDA because we are non-invasive. The separate pathways that you go through. So we are online with the FDA. You have to with OSHA it’s more about your occupational therapists’ understand of how this device fits within OSHA regulations, which is where if we really want to allow a facility to have only one person operate it, it has to fit within the OSHA guidelines. And then we work with the Health and Safety Committee, and the occupational therapists, to develop that procedure and workflow for each deployment. And then the last one is infection prevention, for example, and cleaning. That’s another where we’ve run microbiology studies. We have a really good understanding of that as well. So there are some exciting frontiers there too.

Jennifer Callahan: So essentially if the patient was wedged on their side, maybe rolled towards the right with the wedge underneath their left side, you can program it to go underneath the wedge underneath the patient. And they’re basically get transferred onto the platform and they’re still in the same position.

Jay Singh: Yeah, they’re static. And that’s another really important thing when you’re looking at transfers and diagnostics. And they might have a spinal injury. We maintain their integrity. There is very little risk to that because they’re solid. There’s conformance. But for all intents and purposes, one platform going underneath the patient, we’re replacing the surface under them. We’re not pushing and pulling anything. So by doing that, we capture them in that exact form. It’s like a fruit roll-up two fruit roll-ups that are going through in opposite directions. So as it’s going forward, it’s moving forward and rolling under and it’s coming in at a slight angle. So it’s moving forward and rolling in the other direction. So it successfully replaces the sheet underneath you and the bed. And now you’re on the device.

Jennifer Callahan: So you’re currently in Canada. Are you pretty prevalent with this at this point in the surrounding areas?

Jay Singh: I’ll say that I’ll definitely give a shout-out to the US Veterans Health Administration, because before we even commercialized, we had a data collaboration agreement with them, because what’s really important to us is something we recognize as we are good at robotics and engineering, but it’s you guys that know if technology will be used or not if it works or not. So the way we approach this is here, the core technology, but we know we may have some inkling on how you might want to see it. But let’s work together. And every two weeks for close to 6 to 8 months, we had sprints where we would come up with, “Hey, this is how we want the button layout to look. Hey, this is where we want the hooks to be.” And they were throwing challenges at us saying, “Hey, we want this piece of equipment. We would like the colors to be this way.” So we’ve definitely collaborated a lot with the USVHA. We are part of the Mayo Clinic Innovation Exchange there as we’re just freshly kind of launching our technology. There are a lot of exciting conversations that are going on with facilities across the US because of proximity.

Jay Singh: Our initial launches are at a couple of leading facilities in Canada, and what we’ll be doing over the next 3 to 4 months is launching this program that we call the Change Leaders Program. We’re really working with a limited number of facilities, and something we really believe in is we’re not just a technology provider, so we’re not just giving you a piece of technology. We really work hand in hand with the front-line staff to address any other issues and solve them together, because it’s about developing sustainable workflows that make your lives easier than just telling you to use a new piece of technology. And so we take a very comprehensive look. We work with clinical management, and front-line staff to really establish areas of opportunity that our technology can help. And that’s a 2 to 3-month process for when the device is being implemented and delivered. And we feel really good about that. We call it our success initiative.

Jennifer Callahan: You were saying that you want to go ahead and share the video with us just to do a basis over it.

Jay Singh: Yeah, absolutely. So this is one of those things. As much as I try to describe it, it’s much easier when you look at the technology. So it looks like a stretcher. All the front-line staff has to do with lining our device up with the patient bed. It could be anything. It could even be a CT table, for example. And the device takes over. It’s all fully automatic. So it pushes down for the patient’s comfort and then it starts to roll underneath. And the white surface you’re seeing is not static. It’s actually a conveyor belt that’s moving in the opposite direction. So it just replaces the surface that they’re on, and it doesn’t result in any excessive displacement. They could be on a pillow, a wedge, whatever have you. And then they’re just shuffled over onto our device. And this process takes a minute and a half, or two minutes. And then you can independently take them to wherever you need them to go. And this thing that I described right here, as you may appreciate, Jen, could require anywhere from 2 to 7 or 8 staff, depending on the patient’s weight. And that is a cause of a lot of injuries and inefficiencies. And right now everybody’s talking about procedural throughput. So we think our technology has a lot to offer there. Think about ortho surgeries right now. These centers tend to be staffed in a very lean manner.

Jay Singh: You might have 1 or 2 nurses, a scrub tech, a nurse, and then there’s a surgeon. Especially with bariatric and bariatric individuals, require significant help when transferring. And with our technology, you can have that. You can have a 350-pound person being transferred by just one nurse, as opposed to in that setting that I just described with three people in the whole center. Sometimes you turn patients away as a result. So that results in a slowdown of procedures. Right now, where there’s a big backlog with our technology, is that consistent flow of one person can queue them up, get them ready for transfers, and then your procedure can begin. So it makes the whole operation a lot more efficient. And that same example that I use can be used in various different settings where there’s a lot of demand for that procedure, especially in an inpatient setting.

Jennifer Callahan: Do you have a goal in your mind for the company somewhere that you want to branch out into, or certain facilities that you’re hoping that you can join, that you can share this wonderful piece of equipment with?

Jay Singh: The big vision I have is this should become the standard of care in patient transfers. And while right now our use case is supine, we want to do all types of transfers and handling. And I’ll just take a step back here. You really have to think about it from the problem side and why this is a big problem and comes down to the root cause of why our healthcare professionals join the profession is to provide care to the patient. Now, what takes away from that? Because many people are leaving the profession, it’s a high degree of demand. You’re doing a lot of reporting and you’re moving patients. I would argue in some cases, reporting and moving patients is 90% of the job. And the part that you want to do is a small portion of it. People are leaving the profession just for a better quality of life. So what we’re looking at is, okay, we’re going to focus on the physical aspect of that, because nobody’s looked at that in a very long time and see if we can minimize or take that away. So all tasks right now it’s transferred but it could be patient turning. As we’re living longer, bedsores are becoming more and more prevalent.

Jay Singh: And while we’re focusing on technologies that can track how often you’ve been turned, the fundamental question is who is turning you? Are there people available on hand to turn you? And that’s where we think our technology and the type of technologies we’re building can play a big role. And now looking all the way into the future, we envision our technologies, not this exact technology, but future versions of it that can be placed in individuals’ home care settings that can get them in and out of bed onto a wheelchair, allowing them to age in a setting of their preference, really providing a better quality of life where they can spend 3, 4 or 5 years with their loved ones, that’s transformative, and that’s the big vision we have for Able.

Jennifer Callahan: I’m loving this, and I hope that it branches out to where I am, because it would be a game changer, for sure.

Jay Singh: We’re very interested to go wherever we find innovative minds, really, because there are two mindsets. One is it’s so much pressure on us. We’re going to have our blinders on and just plow through. Their innovation may not be a part of the solution, but seeking individuals like yourself really inspires me because you can think out of the box a little bit, and that’s what you need to get out of the rut. We find ourselves in healthcare, but I really appreciate you profiling us and thinking about our technology, and hopefully one day you’ll get to use it too.

Jennifer Callahan: Me too. All right, everybody, this is Jay Singh from Able Innovations talking to us about their transformative sport of transport, that Alta platform. So Jay, thanks so much for being with me today. I really enjoyed our conversation.

Jay Singh: I really appreciate it. Thank you.Jennifer Callahan: You’ve been listening to the Skeleton Crew, brought to you by xraytech.org, the Rad Tech Career Resource. Join us on the next episode to explore the present and the future of the Rad Tech career and the field of radiology.