Maya Trutschl, an 18-year-old Louisiana student, has developed a low-cost system using machine learning and thermal imaging to detect pressure injuries before they become visible. Her project combines a machine-learning model with a thermal camera that monitors patient positioning and alerts healthcare staff when repositioning may be needed. Trutschl trained her model using the MIMIC-IV ICU dataset and tested multiple classification approaches to address the challenge of identifying relatively rare pressure-injury cases. Her thermal-sensing hardware costs less than $130. According to Trutschl, she tested the system in a hospital ICU for more than 150 hours and recorded over 99% accuracy in tracking patient positioning. Her work has earned her a $25,000 Davidson Fellows Scholarship. She is set to attend MIT and plans to study aerospace engineering or computer science, continuing her interest in developing technology-based solutions to healthcare challenges.
Maya Trutschl: Teen Builds AI System to Detect Bedsores Early
