Florida High School Students’ Life-Saving App Wins Award

(TNS) — Four Manatee County students who designed a new tool to calculate dosage for medicines have won the 16th Congressional District App Challenge, U.S. Rep.  Vern Buchanan  announced on Monday.

The students built the Medical Dosage Calculator App after one of the students' friends nearly died from a miscalculated dosage.

"I can't commend them enough for inventing such an important and potentially lifesaving tool," Buchanan, R- Longboat Key, said in a news release. "I'm proud to name them this year's winners of the 16th Congressional District App Challenge, part of a national competition to encourage interest in science, technology, engineering and math."

The students are  Ava Biasini ,  Jordan Sheehan ,  Kolby Wade  and Nolwen Bachtle of Braden River High School.

"STEM education gives students the knowledge they need to succeed and helps the U.S. compete in a global economy," Buchanan said. "Children are 25 percent of the population, but 100 percent of the future, and the future is in good hands with students like these."

The winning entry, Valitudo, allows medical providers to provide input about their patient's condition/infection, weight and height. The app calculates the proper dosage to administer to the patient. It also contains descriptions, dosage information and interactions with other medicines.

The app will be featured on CongressionalAppChallenge.us and will also be eligible to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol.

"Our team is incredibly honored to be recognized in this way," Sheehan said. "We felt this was a great opportunity to develop our skills with a real development project."

The Congressional App Challenge was created by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015 and allows students to compete against their peers across the country by creating an app for desktop/PC, web, tablet, mobile, raspberry Pi or other devices. The challenge is designed to promote innovation and engagement in computer science.

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