Published: 3 May 2019 at 11:00
Wellbeing app and online grocery store win thousands at The Big Pitch 2019
A student nurse has won £5,000 to develop an app to help healthcare workers deal with the trauma they face on shift on a day-to-day basis, as part of Anglia Ruskin University’s The Big Pitch competition.
Final-year Adult Nursing student Hollie Lawrence, 21, plans to develop an app which will give busy healthcare workers a quick and easy way to get advice which can help them to deal with the often traumatic scenes they face working on the front line of emergency care.
As well as the prize money, Hollie also won three days’ business mentoring in Spain courtesy of event sponsors Simboc, and a one-year membership of the Future Business Centre by Allia, where she will work with their team to help develop her project.
Hollie, who is from Clacton, said:
“As a student nurse, I feel I would have benefited from this innovation during my training. Because nurses have a busy lifestyle, they can go home and download the app and it’s anonymous.
“To take the time out to approach an existing service is quite a big thing especially when sometimes people are concerned about identifying they have a need and might feel like they almost have to be a robot. As student nurses, we need to be able to deal with a situation for that person in your care.”
“As an academic community we pride ourselves on promoting and supporting student enterprise and entrepreneurship.
“We are passionate about ensuring our graduates possess an entrepreneurial mindset and become a positive force for change, helping to transform lives, industry and communities.”