(UTK Tickle College of Engineering) Patients hospitalized with a debilitating condition often struggle with the ability to communicate urgent needs.
When a patient told her, “I want to speak for myself,” Rebecca Koszalinski, a certified rehabilitation nurse and assistant professor in the College of Nursing, sought to develop a method that would improve communication and care for patients suffering from cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and other diseases that affect the ability to speak.
Koszalinski turned to Industrial and Systems Engineering Associate Professor Xueping Li to partner with her on the project and develop an app called simply Speak For Myself – Voice.
