Knopka LLC and Movesense Ltd: International cooperation forged at MEDICA

Sometimes, it just about being in the right place at the right time: At MEDICA 2022, Knopka LLC from Ukraine and Movesense Ltd from Finland crossed paths. They immediately started a project together in a hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, that is now, roughly six months later, completed already.

In this interview with MEDICA-tradefair.com, Ivan Osadchyy and Jussi Kaasinen tell us how the cooperation between their companies began, how they implemented their joint project and how they want to build on their success.

Knopka LLC and Movesense Ltd entered a cooperation at MEDICA 2022. How did this happen?

Jussi Kaasinen: Our stands were facing each other on the MEDICA show floor. I went to ask Knopka's CEO Ivan Osadchyy what the company does. When it turned out that the product is a wireless nurse call button, I suggested making it Movesense compatible. The answer was "WOW!"

Excited about the opportunity, Osadchyy brought the chief of the hospital in Lviv to Movesense‘s stand to have a look at our offering. His comment was that this was a "dream come true", and that such monitoring is needed for every bed in the hospital.

After MEDICA, Knopka's team was at Slush, a large startup event in Helsinki. I brought them a few Movesense sensors and accessories to experiment and start working on the solution.

Ivan Osadchyy: Let's call it "MEDICA Magic". We had hopes of getting acquainted with a producer of portable cardiac monitoring devices. But we never imagined that we would come across Movesense at the neighboring stand. So when we found out about it, we were very happy about such proximity.

How do your companies and your strengths complement each other?

Kaasinen: Our MDR-approved EKG and movement sensors are designed and manufactured in Finland. We offer open APIs and full access to the sensor raw data to build new medical solutions on top of the data.

Knopka develops high quality patient call systems and adds a service layer to them, utilizing Movesense tools and the data produced by the Movesense medical sensors.

Osadchyy: We are developing a wireless nurse call system that serves as a personal assistant to nurses, notifying them on their smartphones about current tasks as well as critical patient conditions.

However, implementing a patient monitoring system for multiple patients in a medical facility is typically a complex and costly infrastructure that also requires significant time for training of medical staff.

Movesense sensors, despite their technological complexity, offer rich usability, being intuitive and convenient to use, allowing for instant vital monitoring. Together with our system, we can promptly alert the medical personnel if the readings become critical and ensure timely response to provide urgent assistance to the patient.

Together, this is a plug-and-play solution for any institution where patient monitoring is critical.

Your first project took place in a hospital in Lviv, Ukraine. What did you do there?

Kaasinen: We supplied the Movesense MD ECG sensors for the practical pilot implementation in Lviv and were on standby for possible technical support needs – which did not arise. Knopka took care of running the project in practice.

Osadchyy: At the level of a joint solution, several hospitals expressed interest in implementation. We began collaborating with the Hospital of First Medical Union, which has a license for conducting clinical trials. In the pediatric neurosurgery department, we implemented our notification system and conducted initial testing of the integration of Movesense signals into our solution. During the testing and clinical trials, the whole hospital showed interest in this compatible solution – and this hospital is one of the largest medical centers in the country with over 2000 beds.

What role do your respective products/solutions play there in detail?

Kaasinen: We provide Knopka with the MDR certified Movesense Medical sensors that measure ECG, heart rate, heart rate variability, and movement. Knopka added Movesense compatibility to their solution and uses the sensors to monitor vital parameters of the patients.

Movesense production in Finland scales flexibly to the needs of customers of different sizes. Our APIs and developer tools enable fast integration of the sensor to existing health applications and data systems, including telehealth and remote patient monitoring solutions.

Knopka manufactures high quality scalable patient alarm button systems and the associated application layer with user interfaces. The combined product saves lives by enabling continuous monitoring of patients in challenging conditions.

Osadchyy: Our joint solution instantly notifies the medical staff about critical patient conditions and ensures that they receive assistance within a maximum of two minutes.

What was challenging during implementation? How did you solve these problems?

Kaasinen: We expected that the war is a challenge both because of the number and quality of patients and the problems related to infrastructure. However, everything worked very smoothly. We were also prepared to provide technical support to the Knopka team but they built the pilot system very quickly by themselves.

Osadchyy: We thought that the war, constant threat of shelling, and the fact that we are from different countries would be obstacles. However, our teams worked well together. We are united and focused on the same direction.

Do you plan more cooperations in the future? What could these look like?

Kaasinen: Absolutely, we will continue and expand the cooperation between Movesense and Knopka. Our products together form a cost-effective, scalable patient monitoring solution for both fixed and temporary installations, which will help healthcare providers save lives. Both in Ukraine and in other markets that have an acute need to establish an effective patient monitoring capability.

Osadchyy: We want to scale our operations in Ukraine and Poland, as well as expand into new markets within the EU, including Finland.