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In intensive care units and operating rooms across Finland, one of the most fundamental vital signs, urine output, is still measured by hand. Nurses check urine bags at the bedside and manually enter them into electronic systems. The process is slow, error‑prone, outdated compared to e.g. heart rate and oxygen saturation which are already monitored automatically.

To address this long‑standing challenge, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, Biodesign Finland, and Aalto Design Factory have joined forces in this year’s Product Development Project (PdP) course. Together, an interdisciplinary student team is developing an automated, affordable, and hospital‑system‑integrated urine output monitoring solution. The objective is clear: save nurses’ time, improve data accuracy, and enable real‑time clinical decisions.

The real‑world bottleneck: two minutes per patient, every hour

“The need came straight from everyday patient care,” EHR Nurse Susan Laine from HUS explains. “Most vital‑sign monitoring is already automatic, but we still use human workforce to measure things that devices could do, and then we write the results by hand into the IT system.”

She quantifies the impact: in a typical 50‑patient ICU, if a nurse spends just two minutes per patient per hour to check and record urine output, the cumulative effect is substantial: 2 minutes x 24 (every hour) x 50 patients equal 2400 minutes. That means 40 hours of nurses’ time goes to measuring urine output every day - essentially one full week nursing is shift lost to a repetitive task that could be automated. “By automating this, we can free nurses time for other significant tasks and to direct patient care,” Laine says.

Delays or errors in urine‑output data can postpone the detection of kidney failure, sepsis, or hemorrhage. Real‑time, accurate data allows clinicians to act faster and potentially save lives.

The difference of a student‑led PdP project

The PdP collaboration represents a new model for HUS. “We work with medical‑device, often to develop or test an existing device in a real clinical environment,” Susan Laine notes. “But this project started from a user‑driven need and building a completely new medical device from zero."

Laine highlights what distinguishes the PdP approach from traditional vendor R&D: “Nothing restricts the brainstorming. We start from the premise that everything is possible. When you work with a large company, they immediately set frames: ‘This is realistic, that’s not.’ Here, we simply started to solve the practical problem.”

Because the PdP student team has no preconceived notions about regulatory paths or legacy workflows, they are able to think more freely. “They haven’t been ‘contaminated’ by the usual regulatory hurdles that often slow down health‑tech,” says Salla Keränen, Development Manager at HUS. “They started from, ‘What’s the best solution?’ That lets us move much more agilely and get to a functional solution faster.”

The team is deliberately interdisciplinary: students different study programmes (engineering, design, business, health sciences, and more) work together under a dedicated project lead with clearly assigned responsibilities. “It’s the ownership that builds engagement, that’s been key to the momentum,” Keränen observes.

From idea to functional prototype in one academic year

One of the most striking aspects of the PdP process is the learning curve. The students began with almost no knowledge of medical‑device regulation, hospital procurement, or patent law. By mid‑project, they were already speaking the language of clinicians and engineers. “It’s been wonderful to follow the students’ development path,” Salla Keränen says. “They started knowing nothing about this, and now they’re experts in the subject.”

The course’s duration is optimally balanced: long enough to mature a real product concept, but short enough to avoid the years‑long drag that often plagues diploma theses or in‑house R&D. “This isn’t someone’s personal development project that gets polished and kicked around for years,” adds Otto Olavinen, Impact Coordinator at Biodesign Finland. Susan Laine agrees: “We started here, and we’ll end here. Clear start, clear finish.” 

Regular check‑ins, Q&A sessions, and face‑to‑face meetings with HUS clinicians keep the project on track.

PdP’s benefits for an industry partner

For potential sponsors considering whether PdP is a good fit for their organization, the message is clear. “Come with a clear problem or challenge, not with a pre‑made solution idea. Give them free hands and a free mind. The biggest value is getting people with a developer mindset from different sciences to think outside the box,” Laine advises.

Keränen adds a strong value proposition: “In return for the costs, you get significantly more: not just a prototype, but new processes, fresh ideas that haven’t been dulled by day‑to‑day routine, and a highly motivated, interdisciplinary team. The return on investment is remarkable.”

Olavinen notes that previous PdP projects have already delivered highly impactful results, establishing the PdP model as a proven approach for public‑sector and health‑care organizations seeking rapid, user‑centered innovation.

A new cooperation model for Finnish health tech

This project is more than a single device; it is a template for how public‑sector agencies, design thinkers, and engineering students can co‑create solutions that truly meet clinical needs. Piloted as a part of the EIT HEI CODEUNITED project and identified through the Biodesign Finland needs platform, it demonstrates that when universities, hospitals, and the talent of the future align, the results can transform everyday care.

As Salla Keränen summarizes: “This has brought together different actors: an incredibly versatile student team, clinical experts who know what’s possible, and all the necessary knowledge about medical technology, procurement, law, and patents. Everything needed to turn ideas into practice is in one room.”

For companies and public‑sector organizations looking to tackle their own unsolved challenges, the PdP model offers a fresh, fast, and financially smart path forward.
 

The developed solution is on public display in Aalto in the Product Development Gala 2026 on May 8th - join us to hear more!