Tag Archives: injection

These 3D printed needle covers were designed to put children at ease during vaccinations!

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Needles can be scary and I am saying that as an adult, so I can only imagine the fear children must feel. Post the pandemic, there is no choice but to face the fear of needles if you want to stay safe. To make it easier for children to conquer their fears, designer James Dickson created playful needle covers that can help make the entire process of getting vaccinations less daunting.

The children’s needle covers aim to reduce the fear of vaccination by hiding the needle within a form that a child is familiar with. Playful forms such as a plane or butterfly are universal, simple, and engaging for children. The medical professional can simply slide the cover over the needle and proceed with the vaccination. This is not just something that is meant for use during the pandemic but can be a continued use to administer medication through needles whenever required. This could brighten the day for many children who are patients in hospitals and have to stay for a while or even generally for those in the pediatric ward. Needle covers like these make the experience and atmosphere a little less dreary in all clinics and hospitals.

“For the prototyping of the Children’s Needle Covers, I opted for 3D printing with spray paint applied to give the desired color. This is not a final product but a prototype to show the intended form, function, and aesthetics of the Needle Covers,” says Dickson. He started with hand sketches, then moved onto creating small cardboard prototypes, followed by digital 3D modelling. After the CAD was finalized the design was 3D printed and spray painted. Medical professionals can even offer the cover to the child to take back home as a memento and after safely disposing the syringe. I vote for Dickson to create Avengers-themed needle covers next!

Designer: James Dickson

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Syringe ‘watch’ puts a life-saving allergy shot on your wrist

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If you're prone to serious allergic reactions, carrying an epinephrine shot (such as an EpiPen) could be vital. Those shots are often bulky, though, and there's a real chance you could lose yours right before you need it. Students at Rice Universit...

A Perfect Example of User-centered Design

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Naturally, medical devices have a direct impact on the patient and because of this they must provide an intuitive user experience that is both considering and understanding of the user. However, this isn’t always the case and the empathetic element of the design is either lost or dismissed when it comes to the development of a new product. Aalto explores how a more harmonious patient experience can be achieved through the use of color, form and branding.

Aalto is a self-injection device designed for use by patients suffering with a chronic disease that impacts their dexterity. The family of products that make-up Aalto each share the same geometric yet friendly forms that evoke a sense of trust. More significantly, they remove the stigma of medical devices and create a far more approachable product.

This element of trust has been introduced to each aspect of the product, from the packaging through to the interface. By having these attributes projected onto each element, a far more considered and harmonized experience has been achieved. This is just a beautiful example of user-centered design.

Designer: Cambridge Consultants

The Aalto autoinjector family uses robust, geometric forms to evoke a sense of TRUST.

Bold use of midnight blue with a contrasting yellow accent colour and the use of a tactile outer skin portray the ACTIVE brand attribute.

A sense of CALM is depicted in product detailing by using subtle ‘wave’ patterns on areas of the injectors. This indicates where (and how) patients should interact with the devices (twist, push and pull). Superfluous visual stimuli should be avoided, as it may detract from the device’s usability cues.

The Aalto injector packaging is designed to provide an enhanced unboxing experience. When the pack is opened, the injector and instructions for use are presented to the patient simultaneously, reducing confusion and anxiety, and further enforcing the brand attributes of TRUST and CALM.

Interactive and aesthetic harmony are considered with gesture control across hardware and software.

The electromechanical autoinjector embodies this consideration. As a patient pushes the autoinjector against their skin, the digital interface and software responds to this physical interaction, guiding the user to push with and maintain the correct force.

IVs Made Easy

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The Smart Roller Clamp utilizes a minimalistic yet effective user interface to simultaneously make nurses’ job easier and reduce human error. Traditionally, nurses would have to make visual and mental calculations (more like guesses) for correct IV concentration and timing. Smart Roller Clamp enables nurses to use the turntable on the roller clam to input the amount of solutions in the IV bag and the time required. It determines the factual rate of flow needed. No more inaccuracy due to mental and visual calculations. No more wasting time due to unit conversions. It is also integrated with a Bluetooth feature that notifies nurses at the nursing station which IV bag is out of solutions or even IV blockage.

Designer: Chun-Tung Lin, Yu-Han Lai

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Gadget Quickly Cools Skin to Make Injections Less Painful: Comfortably Numb

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Three Rice University freshmen are working on a simple device that could make injections less painful. They call their device Comfortably Numb – a small ice pack that quickly cools down the spot to be injected.

comfortably_numb_device_for_injections_by_rice_university_1zoom in

Greg Allison, Andy Zhang and Mike Hua are currently extracting ammonium nitrate from ice packs for their prototype. They developed a cylinder that keeps the powdered compound and a bit of water in separate containers. Give the lid a twist and the two compounds mix and have an endothermic reaction. The bottom of the cylinder is applied to the skin, absorbing the heat on that spot and numbing it within 30 to 60 seconds. Aside from making injections less painful, the team also believes their device could be used in tattooing and body piercing and to reduce swelling.

So why not just use currently available ice packs or even simpler, a chunk of ice? The group want to keep the numbing device’s size and price to a minimum. They hope to eventually make the device small enough to fit into a syringe needle’s cap.

While the jet-powered injector we saw a few years ago seems more effective and works much quicker than Comfortably Numb, it’s still a promising start from a group of freshmen. Perhaps they’ll be able to improve their project drastically over the years. Or they’ll discover booze and think that that’s a better solution.

[via Rice University via Gizmodo]

Robopsy is a low-cost, disposable patient-mounted medical robot

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Robopsy is a lowcost, disposable patientmounted medical robot

In a less gelatin-centric demo, the Harvard-based team behind the Robotically Steerable Probe showed off some Robopsy devices during our visit to the school, rings that can help medical imaging technology like CT, ultrasound and MR physically pinpoint precise locations on patients. The devices, which can hold up to ten needles, are lightweight, mounting directly on patients via adhesives or straps. The medical robots are made largely of inexpensive injection molded plastic parts, making them disposable after they've been used on a patient, popping the motors and other control electronics onto another device. In all, the team says Robopsy rings are "orders of magnitude" cheaper and lighter than other medical robotic devices. Check out a video of the one of the Robopsy devices running after the break.

Gallery: Robopsy is a low-cost, disposable patient-mounted medical robot

Robopsy is a low-cost, disposable patient-mounted medical robot

Continue reading Robopsy is a low-cost, disposable patient-mounted medical robot

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Robopsy is a low-cost, disposable patient-mounted medical robot originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Robotically Steerable Probe aims at minimally invasive surgery, moves through gelatin like a champ

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Robotically Steerable Thermal Ablation Probe aims at more minimally invasive surgery, moves through gelatin like a champ

Who doesn't prefer to have the word "surgery" preceded by the phrase "minimally invasive?" During our trip to the Harvard research labs today, we were given a demo of the Robotically Steerable Thermal Ablation Probe, a device designed to help minimize the number of injections required when treating something like a tumor. The machine is guided by a x-ray image onto which a doctor can choose a number of destinations. Rather than being forced to re-inject the patient, the outer cannula moves up and down to locate the position, with a thinner curved stylet extends from within it, reaching the designated area. In order to hit subsequent spots, the stylet retracts back into the cannula, which adjusts its up and down position, extending once again to reach the area. Applications for the technology extend beyond just injection, including the possibility of extracting tissue samples from a patient.

You can check out a demo of the device doing its work after the break. But don't worry, it's just gelatine.

Continue reading Robotically Steerable Probe aims at minimally invasive surgery, moves through gelatin like a champ

Robotically Steerable Probe aims at minimally invasive surgery, moves through gelatin like a champ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Aug 2012 16:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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