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Dr. Geoff  Fernie - University Health Network. Toronto, ON, CANADA

Dr. Geoff Fernie

Senior Scientist, The KITE Research Institute | University Health Network

Toronto, ON, CANADA

Developing technologies to prevent injury and disease & help individuals continue to live in their own homes as they age

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Biography

Dr. Geoff Fernie develops technologies for two broad purposes: To prevent injury and disease; to help individuals and their family caregivers continue to live in their own homes as they age.

Dr. Fernie has maintained a focus on the reduction of falls through the development of innovative mobility products, non-slip winter footwear and improvements to accessibility and building codes. He has made significant advances in preventing hospital acquired infections by improving hand hygiene. His recent involvement in the development of a disposable instrument for home diagnosis of sleep apnea has the potential to significantly reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular complications resulting from untreated sleep apnea. Dr. Fernie has been responsible for many products that assist people's independence, including innovative wheelchairs and bathroom aids. Many of his inventions have reduced the physical burden of caring for people, including the prevention of back and shoulder injuries in professional nurses and family caregivers caused by lifting and moving people.

Industry Expertise (4)

Health Care - Services

Health Care - Providers

Research

Health and Wellness

Areas of Expertise (13)

Winter Footwear Safety

Stair Safety

Senior Aging At Home

Rehabilitation Research

Idapt Centre

Falls Research

Elderly Driving Research

Aging At Home Research

Accessible Environments

Assistive Technology

Biomechanics

Rehabilitation Engineering

Ergonomics

Media Appearances (4)

Driving simulator may keep some drivers safely on the road for longer

Toronto Star  online

2014-06-16

“There are a lot of people driving with dementia, some of whom shouldn’t be, but then there are a lot of people not driving with dementia who could be,” said Geoff Fernie, director of Toronto Rehab. “If you could have a customized licence, people would be limited to driving in certain (conditions) — in daylight, and on certain streets. We want to have the evidence that we can test for that.”

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Driving simulator could keep some drivers safely on the road for longer

The Hamilton Spectator  online

2014-06-16

"There are a lot of people driving with dementia, some of whom shouldn't be, but then there are a lot of people not driving with dementia who could be," said Geoff Fernie, director of Toronto Rehab. "If you could have a customized licence, people would be limited to driving in certain (conditions) — in daylight, and on certain streets. We want to have the evidence that we can test for that." It is a pioneering idea that could significantly affect the quality of life of a large and growing segment of the population. By 2028, there are expected to be nearly 100,000 drivers with dementia in Ontario, more than double the current number, according to a Queen's University study.

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Rehab lab works on real world solutions for disabled, elderly

CBC The National  tv

2014-06-13

Amanda Lang visits a Toronto rehab research lab that applies technology to real world problems facing the disabled and elderly.

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Rehab lab works on real world solutions for disabled, elderly

CBC News  online

2014-06-13

How to prevent the elderly from falling, how to keep them driving longer, how to make it practical for them to stay in their homes as long as possible — all these problems are on the radar of Geoff Fernie and the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.

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Articles (4)

Automated monitoring: a potential solution for achieving sustainable improvement in hand hygiene practices


PubMed.gov

2014-08-01

Adequate hand hygiene is often considered as the most effective method of reducing the rates of hospital-acquired infections, which are one of the major causes of increased cost, morbidity, and mortality in healthcare. Electronic monitoring technologies provide a promising direction for achieving sustainable hand hygiene improvement by introducing the elements of automated feedback and creating the possibility to automatically collect individual hand hygiene performance data. The results of the multiphase testing of an automated hand hygiene reminding and monitoring system installed in a complex continuing care setting are presented.

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Hand hygiene monitoring technology: protocol for a systematic review


PubMed.gov

2013-11-01

Healthcare worker hand hygiene is thought to be one of the most important strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections, but compliance is generally poor. Hand hygiene improvement interventions must include audits of compliance (almost always with feedback), which are most often done by direct observation - a method that is expensive, subjective, and prone to bias. New technologies, including electronic and video hand hygiene monitoring systems, have the potential to provide continuous and objective monitoring of hand hygiene, regular feedback, and for some systems, real-time reminders. We propose a systematic review of the evidence supporting the effectiveness of these systems. The primary objective is to determine whether hand hygiene monitoring systems yield sustainable improvements in hand hygiene compliance when compared to usual care.

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The effect of automated monitoring and real-time prompting on nurses' hand hygiene performance


PubMed.gov

2013-10-01

Adequate hand hygiene compliance by healthcare staff is considered an effective method to reduce hospital-acquired infections. The electronic system developed at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute automatically detects hand hygiene opportunities and records hand hygiene actions. It includes an optional visual hand hygiene status indication, generates real-time hand hygiene prompting signals, and enables automated monitoring of individual and aggregated hand hygiene performance.

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Validation of an automated algorithm for detecting apneas and hypopneas by acoustic analysis of breath sounds


PubMed.gov

2013-06-01

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is common and is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. However, most patients remain undiagnosed due to lack of access to sleep laboratories. We therefore tested the validity of a single-channel monitoring setup that captures and analyzes breath sounds (BSs) to detect SDB.

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