Abstract

Heart failure (HF) is one of the most common disorders, affecting an estimated 64 million people globally. Although heart failure incidence is stabilizing in some countries, prevalence is rising because of an aging population, improved post-myocardial infarction survival, and advances in treatment. High mortality, morbidity, reduced quality of life, and significant healthcare costs are results of heart failure (Shahim et al., 2023). Recurrent heart failure episodes are associated with an increased risk of death. Heart monitoring systems exist in several forms, including implantable cardiac devices, wearable and portable monitors, and remote patient monitoring systems. Each type differs in monitoring needs, from once-a-day tracking to critical real time data transmission but each type of device has its own strengths and drawbacks. One such drawback of patient compliance is using a monitoring device, but that can be mitigated with a device that requires minimal patient involvement and infrequent charging (Conn et al., 2018). Dr. David Borkholder and Dr. Nicholas Conn collaboratively created an in-home toilet seat based cardiovascular monitoring system, known as The Heart Seat™, which seeks to alleviate the downfalls of commonly used in home monitoring systems for heart failure, while simultaneously creating trend data of accurate measurements of blood pressure, stroke volume, and blood oxygenation levels in a clinical level accuracy at home. The purpose of this project is to create a short animation, along with a poster to introduce The Heart Seat™ to patients with heart failure, and show them that it can track recently discharged patient’s vitals and leave time for early intervention. The animation consists of two parts: (1) To describe the need for such a device and (2) to illustrate The Heart Seat™’s uses and functions. A poster is presented highlighting key features of the device.

Publication Date

2-14-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Medical Illustration(MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

Medical Illustration

College

College of Health Sciences and Technology

Advisor

James Perkins

Advisor/Committee Member

Craig Foster

Advisor/Committee Member

David Borkholder

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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