Vital Sync: Remote Ebola patient monitor
-PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
Background
Our ‘Appropriate Technology in the Developing World' class was tasked with creating devices to be used in African areas affected by the Ebola outbreak. Conversations with healthcare workers who had worked in Ebola treatment centers revealed that all equipment had to be thrown away upon use on an Ebola patient. Common implements such as stethoscopes and thermometers could not be sufficiently disinfected between patients and hence, would be disposed.
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Solution
We decided to create a cheap, disposable device that would collect and transmit patient vitals. This would improve treatment as doctors would have the tools to diagnose patients and could be alerted to the state and needs of deteriorating patients before they entered the ‘hot zone’
VitalSync is a wearable device that collects automated, periodic vital sign (blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen level, temperature) readings from patients and transmits these data wirelessly to remote data receptors. The device is designed to help healthcare workers provide more accurate, tailored and timely care to patients, all while dramatically decreasing contagion risk as well as time spent collecting patient vitals. VitalSync was projected to have a manufacturing cost of $27 a unit.
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My role
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Proof of concept
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Experiential prototype
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3D modelling and printing
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Materials selection
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Functional prototype packaging
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Rapid prototype of the experiential model
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