UPTEC companies collaborate to help doctors and nurses triage pregnant women

Image credit: VirtualCare

VirtualCare and Everythink, two companies based at UPTEC – Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto, have developed a flowchart to help healthcare professionals clarify the new emergency access process. The solution was developed to clarify for those responsible for triage – in gynaecology and obstetrics – the stages of the process from initial contact with the SNS24 to clinical resolution.

Founded in 2012, VirtualCare focuses on creating technological solutions for the healthcare sector. One of the startup’s solutions, ObsCare, is a computerised gynaecological and obstetric clinical record system that is already used in more than 20 local health units in Portugal.

It was with the launch of a new obstetric screening algorithm by the National Health Service (SNS) that VirtualCare made the decision to design a flowchart that would clarify the new screening processes for ObsCare’s professional users: “It was the doubts of our health professionals, with whom we have contact, that challenged us. We had to be able to help and that’s why we thought it would be useful to create a visual and structured tool”, says Tiago Costa, CEO of VirtualCare.

The partnership with Everythink, a design studio based at UPTEC since 2008, arose from the closeness developed between the two startups over time, which “was cultivated by the participation of both companies in activities within the scope of Health Cluster Portugal, the E-Mais Association and, of course, the proximity and synergy generated by the fact that both are based at UPTEC”, explains Júlio Martins, founder and CEO of Everythink.

“Starting from an initial flowchart, we made every effort to build and validate, with the different people involved in this process, a flow that gives visibility to the official guidelines, bringing together, in a simple and understandable way, different levels of care in the same diagram”, adds Júlio Martins.

Everythink has been working for several years on the design of products and services in the health sector, from solutions for use in surgery to devices for monitoring health indicators.  “We believed that combining VirtualCare’s technical expertise in the healthcare sector with Everythink’s ability to translate complex processes into accessible content would be essential to ensure that the flowchart was not only informative, but also intuitive and effective for all users”, adds Tiago Costa.

By combining strategic design and technological innovation, the flowchart developed in partnership by the two University of Porto spin-offs aims to simplify the process and support healthcare professionals.

January 16, 2025

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