Lay summary
The journey of food through the gut is long and extremely complex! When the gut function is impaired, nutritional support and diagnostic interventions often require insertion of catheters, which is usually performed without any visual guidance. This entails many risks including death arising from misplacement. Catheter placement can be subsequently confirmed using X-ray but it exposes radiation to patients/staff, increases the overall healthcare cost, and delays patient care. We propose a 'GPS system' for the gut to guide and confirm catheter placement in real-time. The system will harness the state-of-art sensor technology for efficient, reliable, and accurate confirmation enhancing the safety of procedures. This new technology will be low-cost and easy-to-use allowing procedures to be performed at the bedside and will be easily deployed in rural locations without needing specialised healthcare professionals. Hence, this research will help address inequities in healthcare provision by developing a technology with wide application.