Turning frontline challenges into solutions

Andi Seppelt says the collaboration across disciplines at the University and its funding support has positioned her for success as a nurse inventor.

Working as a nurse in mental health for seven years — including providing inpatient care — underscored for Andi Seppelt the need to protect nurses and caregivers from injury by aggressively dysregulated patients.

“Two nurses are assaulted every hour in the U.S.,” says Seppelt, who earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from the School of Nursing in 2013 and is now a candidate in the PhD in Nursing program.

The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 cemented her commitment to keeping incarcerated patients and others who experience dysregulation safe, too.

“Wanting to protect nurses and wanting to help prevent situations like George Floyd’s death” fueled the vision for the Safeguard Shield and Rapid Containment System, explains Seppelt, who also serves as an associate professor and director of the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at The College of St. Scholastica. “George Floyd’s death was a deep motivation for me as an inventor,” she says.

Seppelt invented a multi-device system for safely, humanely immobilizing people who are dysregulated to the point of violence to prevent harm to themselves or others. First came the torso device, “something I call the turtle shell,” Seppelt says. “It’s a way to keep a patient in place without risking harm to them or the caregivers.”

The other pieces, which Seppelt calls “clamshell devices,” are designed to encase a person’s arms and legs. “You can immobilize a person in a gentle, not harsh, way where they don’t have the leverage to punch or kick,” Seppelt explains. She’s worked closely with a use-of-force expert based in Canada to maximize the system’s safety.

Initially, Seppelt received funding for the turtle shell, her first concept, so she prototyped the limb devices herself. Ideally both would be used by trained teams who can employ them quickly and seamlessly. “One goal is to make the process faster, like a Formula 1 race car pit stop. Those teams have tire changes down to about 3 seconds,” Seppelt says.

Protecting patients, nurses from injury

Seppelt earned a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 2005 to be pediatric nurse practitioner, and then partnered for a decade with Ann Garwick, PhD, FAAN, professor emeritus — whom Seppelt calls “an incredible mentor” — conducting community-based research. 

While earning her post-master’s DNP degree in 2013, Seppelt implemented a violence risk assessment tool across the St. Cloud Hospital that helps nurses predict when a patient may become dysregulated and violent. 

“Part of what led me into the PhD program is the hands-on and bringing research to life in the world,” Seppelt explains, who is currently in the dissertation phase of her PhD. The DNP and PhD are “a wonderful combination — they give you many options in your career and a lot of flexibility.”

Strong support for nurse-inventors

Several of Seppelt’s interests coalesced in 2020, as COVID exacerbated mental health crises nationwide and nonfatal nurse injuries resulting in days off work skyrocketed 291 percent. “I was starting to play with ideas about how we could make nurses safer during these episodes,” Seppelt says. “I’ve always had the mindset that with teamwork, any problem can be solved. I’m really thankful that all I’ve done at the U has positioned me to do this kind of work.”

The experience of bringing her concept to life has been illuminating and fun, she says. “You can’t do it by yourself; you need people who support you and support the mission,” Seppelt says, which is what she found at the U. The Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), the Office of Discovery and Translation, the School of Nursing, Research and Innovation Office Technology Commercialization, and the Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship at Minnesota Carlson have provided support, expertise and funding to help Seppelt develop the devices. 

Collaboration across disciplines and areas of expertise is encouraged at the U, she says. “You get lots of mentoring. You also need someone with you that wants to be on the business side of things,” Seppelt says.

Seppelt initially secured $9,000 from Technology Commercialization, then $42,000 from CTSI to develop the turtle shell. “As we secure additional funding, we’ll be able to see how teams use the system,” Seppelt says.

Seppelt hopes more nurses will bring their ideas and ingenuity to the realm of invention. “I read somewhere that nurses come up with 30 hacks a shift,” she says. “Nurses know what the challenges are — we know the pain points.”