CARDMEDIC

Inspired by a COVID-19 ICU survivor, terrified when unable to understand his healthcare providers through their Personal Protective Equipment, CARDMEDIC’s digital communication flashcards are designed to break through the PPE barrier, improving the transfer of vital information from frontline healthcare professionals (HCPs) to patients. Also a practical upskilling tool for re-deployed/returning HCPs.
• Free
• A-Z format
• Simple/succinct
• Topics encompassing patient care and management
• Read-aloud function for partially-sighted/blind/illiterate/unwell
• Translated into 10 languages (further 15 underway)
• Enhanced accessibility functions coming: images/illustrations/sign language videos
• Upload name and photo, so the patient can see their HCP
• In-built free-text/translation function for direct patient-HCP communication without the need for an interpreter

Rachael Grimaldi is a senior anaesthetic registrar at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, UK. She is the founder of the free digital communication tool and upskilling resource CARDMEDICTM. Rachael has a long-held interest in patient safety and communication, winning several prizes for previous work on developing a “Safer ICU Handover”; most notably the international Sashidharan prize at The College of Anaesthesiologists Annual Scientific Sessions Conference in Sri Lanka. She is also the Associate Medical Director for the Brighton Marathon and has led on the integration of a roadside Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) team into the Advanced Cardiac Arrest Team, as well as run the Brighton Marathon Research Group. In her spare time, she can be found running around after three very small children and a dog.