{"id":365948,"date":"2026-03-26T09:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T09:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/365948\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T09:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T09:29:09","slug":"nursing-student-puts-degree-on-hold-to-build-life-saving-medtech-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/365948\/","title":{"rendered":"Nursing student puts degree on hold to build life-saving medtech \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Crinion-Morgan is a Drogheda-based nursing undergraduate <\/a>who has pressed pause on his healthcare career <\/a>to try his luck as a medtech entrepreneur. His business <\/a>is called Resp\u00c9ire and its launch product is a respiration rate reader called the R3.<\/p>\n

The idea for the R3 came from Crinion-Morgan\u2019s experience of working on the ward. He noticed that during routine clinical observations, when nurses check blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, oxygen saturation and respiration rate, they had access to devices (such as blood pressure cuffs) to measure four of the five vital signs. The odd one out was respiration rate, which had to be manually assessed. This struck Crinion-Morgan as a significant unmet clinical need, and he decided to do something about it. <\/p>\n

He put his nursing degree on hold to start working full-time on the R3 in early 2025. At that point, he wasn\u2019t sure if the idea would fly, but winning a high achievement merit award at Enterprise Ireland\u2019s student entrepreneur <\/a>awards provided the validation and confidence boost he needed. <\/p>\n

He mapped out his concept for the device and talked through its viability with his dad, who is an engineer. He then began looking for someone to make the prototype and struck up a relationship with a research and product development company, Pathfinder Innovations, which built it for him. The bulk of the \u20ac10,000 invested in Resp\u00c9ire so far has gone into getting to this prototype stage. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had a passion for science and medicine growing up and originally thought biomedical science was the one for me. However, after a semester at Maynooth University, I realised it wasn\u2019t and that I wanted something more hands-on and patient-facing,\u201d Crinion-Morgan says. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I decided to make the switch to general nursing. I fully credit my experience working as a student nurse and healthcare assistant for giving me my insight into clinical need and ultimately sparking the idea for Resp\u00c9ire. <\/p>\n

\u201cManually measuring respiration is an inefficient and error-prone process that involves staring at a patient\u2019s chest for a full 60 seconds, counting the number of times it rises and falls,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis can be very difficult to do due to the constant disruptions that are commonplace on wards. Resp\u00c9ire aims to solve the problem by providing a portable, inexpensive, and simple-to-use measuring device that aligns with current clinical workflows.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"How the conflict in the Middle East is already affecting Irish consumers<\/p>\n

The idea is that the R3, which is small and light, would find a home on the observation trolley alongside other vital-sign-measuring equipment. It is a plug-and-play device with a screen that displays the reading. The R3 is non-invasive and attaches to the patient\u2019s clothing. It takes between 60 and 80 seconds to take a measurement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the classroom, one of the first things we were taught was the importance of observations and especially the importance of respiration rate, which is known to be a difficult vital sign to monitor. However, as soon as I set foot on the ward, I fully understood the organised chaos that is nursing and how the theory of what should happen was quite different from the reality of what actually happens,\u201d Crinion-Morgan says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the nurse finally gets the chance to do the respiration rate, the patient would often begin making small talk, or an alarm would go off, or another nurse would need help with a difficult patient, and so an invalid result was produced. Then the nurse would have to restart the process, turning a simple task into a time pressure burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crinion-Morgan adds that existing continuous respiratory rate monitoring devices tend to be part of the more complex systems that will ultimately underpin \u201ce-wards\u201d \u2013 where one nurse can monitor every patient from the nurses\u2019 station. \u201cThe problem is that these devices are expensive, complex and difficult to integrate, so they end up mainly in high dependency units,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cResp\u00c9ire takes a different approach, focusing on spot check measurement on general wards as opposed to continuous monitoring in high dependency units. This means we can position the R3 as a cost-effective, portable solution that is more aligned with current clinical workflows and hospital procurement behaviour. Other systems will become available, but they won\u2019t be in use on general wards for years. Resp\u00c9ire aims to fill this gap, as until that day comes, nurses are still unsupported, and patients are still deteriorating.\u201d <\/p>\n

Resp\u00c9ire is at that point in its development where every day is a juggling exercise for its young founder, as there are patent and regulatory hoops to jump through, as well as finalising the MPV and building commercial relationships with potential customers such as the Health Service Executive. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe medtech journey is long and complex, with the regulatory aspects alone taking roughly 18-24 months. As a consequence, I expect it to be 2028 before we launch the device,\u201d says Crinion-Morgan, who is in no rush to accept the investment he\u2019s been offered so far. \u201cI know this is going to be a slow process, so I\u2019d like to hold on to as much equity for as long as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crinion-Morgan is candid about the hardest part of the start-up process so far. \u201cIt\u2019s dealing with the constant uncertainty and doubt and almost a feeling of imposter syndrome,\u201d he says. \u201cI mean, who am I with no business or medtech background to take on the mountain that is building a medtech company?\u201d<\/p>\n

Medtech is certainly not for the faint-hearted, as there is no guarantee of acceptance or success at the end of years of investment and effort. However, at just 22, Crinion-Morgan has the energy and optimism of youth on his side, as well as the gumption to surround himself with older, wiser mentors who have walked the walk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Crinion-Morgan is a Drogheda-based nursing undergraduate who has pressed pause on his healthcare career to try his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,12875,397,396,61,91347,60],"class_list":["post-365948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-health-wellness","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-innovators-to-watch","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}