Fighting hospital infections: A Durham nurse’s dream produces the GoGown

Editor’s note: Ginny Porowski, a registered nurse turned entrepreneur, is meeting a true pain point for hospitals and patients with her “GoGown,” a disposable gown designed to protect patients and staff from infections. She recently landed a licensing deal for GoGown after signing on to work with Edison Nation Medical, a medical device incubator in Charlotte. Porowski met Edison through John Austin at Groundworks Labs in Durham. In the first of a three-part story, WRALTechWire offers its Insiders a detailed account of how GoGowns went from dream to reality.

DURHAM, N.C. – Like any other entrepreneur, Ginny Porowski had a dream: To create a solution to infections in hospitals. As a registered nurse, she knew first hand the pain point that needed to be addressed.

But like other entrepreneurs, she also needed help in developing and bringing her dream – what came to be known as the “Go Gown” – to reality and then to market.

An announcement on Nov. 20 that GoGowns would be licensed by Medline Industries – the largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of health care and surgical products in the U.S. - was the culmination of a lengthy process. Porowski developed her idea while finding a partner in Lisa Bourget, a health care product and business development executive. The two then launched a search for a development partner.

By networking with John Austin of Durham-based Groundwork Labs, which works to help startups evolve toward product delivery, Porowski and Bourget linked up with Edison Nation Medical, a medical device incubator and health innovation portal firm based in Charlotte.

While Porowski is an RN licensed for North Carolina, she also is a licensed professional counselor and had established her credentials already as an entrepreneur before GoGown.

“I work at my private counseling and consulting practice, Family Life Resources, where I have opportunity to combine my understanding of health care, behavioral health and business development,” Porowski says.

But right now, GoGowns is a top priority.

It’s proprietary interior liner has already been patented, so the intellectual property of the concept is protected – a key lesson any entrepreneur needs to learn.

How does GoGown work?

“After removing the gown and gloves, the wearer rolls the gloves within the gown, winds this interior wrapper around the entire package and secures it using the affixed adhesive tab,” Edison Nation says. “The end result is a tightly bound, secure bundle whose size, shape and weight make it easy to discard without leaving any contaminated surfaces exposed.”

WRALTechWire asked Porowski about its creation in an exclusive Q&A:

What was the genesis for the idea?

As a registered nurse I was aware of the increasing problems associated with hospital acquired infections. I also knew that disposable isolation gowns, worn to protect patients and staff from infection, lacked a method for safe disposal. The very same gowns that were worn to protect, once contaminated were potential vehicles for spreading contamination and point of care infections.

Due to the flimsy nature of the gowns, when disposed they were overflowing the waste receptacles in patients rooms. I knew the problem needed a solution so I invented the GoGown to provide a safe, quick and easy method for gown and glove disposal.

The simple attached inside wrapper panel of the GoGown allows the contaminated gown and gloves to be wrapped in a small compact bundle, reducing waste volume and decreasing the opportunity for health care workers to make contact with used contaminated gowns.

What materials/construction make the gown unique? Can it be used for other garments? Please explain.

The GoGown technology is an integrated wrapper on the interior of a hospital gown.

The technology may be integrated into any type of disposable gown at the time of manufacture.

What led you to think about turning your idea into a product?

I was aware that between 5 and 10 percent of all hospital patients contract a point of care (POC) infection during their hospital stay – numbers that are on the rise. And about 100,000 people die from HAI’s annually. After inventing the GoGown solution for disposable gowns I felt it was my responsibility to make sure it got to market so hospitals/patients would have access to the product for safer healthcare.