via University of Western Ontario
Dr. Tarek Loubani has worked as an emergency room physician in hospitals during some of their most desperate times. In 2012, he was practising in a hospital in Gaza, and found himself sharing his one stethoscope with ten other doctors who were trying to treat more than 100 patients.
“We weren’t just low on medical supplies, but even the basics, like stethoscopes, were totally missing,” said Loubani, who is an associate professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, associate scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute and an emergency room physician at London Health Sciences Centre.
Loubani decided he needed to find a way health care providers could create their own supplies on site and eliminate the medical supply chain when access to medical supplies was limited.
He remembers vividly when a solution came into clear view: the day he was playing with a toy stethoscope and noticed that it performed its function quite well. That was the genesis of the idea that led him and his team to create an open-access template for a 3D-printed stethoscope that could be created using recycled plastic.
Now, the team’s stethoscope has been clinically validated, and their results are published in the journal PLOS ONE.
“As far as we know this is the first open-source medical device that has been clinically validated,” said Loubani. “We wanted physicians and allied health care professionals to be able to have something that was high quality. We found that the acoustic quality was the same in our stethoscope as in a premium brand stethoscope.”
The stethoscope is currently being used by physicians and allied health professionals in Gaza and also here in London at the London Health Sciences Centre.
Loubani says stethoscopes may not been seen as vital for diagnosis and treatment in places such as London, where physicians rely heavily on ultrasound, CT and other diagnostic technologies. However, in war-torn and low-income countries, it is a necessary tool.
“Stethoscope utility goes up as other resources go down. In London, if someone gets shot, I can use an ultrasound and look inside and see if there is a life-threating air pocket called a pneumothorax. In Gaza, ultrasounds are not available in the emergency department, or are dilapidated, so the stethoscope becomes an inexpensive tool that allows us to make life-saving decisions.”
The hope now, is to create templates for other medical devices that can be made or improved on-site, he said.
Learn more: Innovative 3D-printed stethoscope saves lives
The Latest on: Open-source medical device
via Google News
The Latest on:
Open-source medical device
- Bio-compatible NFC implant lets consumers make contactless payments with their handon October 8, 2021 at 6:41 am
Consumers in the European Union and the UK can now make contactless payments using an NFC implant in their hand that is compliant with ISO 10993 biocompatibility standards. The batteryless implant is ...
- What's under the hood of a medical device? Software bill of materials hits inflection pointon October 7, 2021 at 8:30 am
President Joe Biden's executive order calls for SBOMs, and the FDA wants to require premarket submissions to have an inventory of third-party device components. AdvaMed is concerned the information ...
- UL Officially Opens Expanded EMC and Wireless Laboratory in Italyon October 7, 2021 at 6:14 am
UL, the global safety science leader, officially opened today an expanded electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and wireless laboratory in Carugate, Italy, 20 kilometers from Milan. The enhanced ...
- The Midwest’s Leading Medical Device and Advanced Manufacturing Event Returns to Minneapolis In-Person This Fallon October 7, 2021 at 5:03 am
Advanced Manufacturing Minneapolis, the Midwest’s only annual end-to-end design & manufacturing event organized by Informa Markets – Engineering, today announced the event’s return to the Minneapolis ...
- What Are NIBP Machines, And What Is Their Place In Modern Health Tech?on October 6, 2021 at 11:22 am
The world of health technology never sits still. Doctors and scientists are constantly innovating, continually streamlining their methods of delivering the best health care available. Health care and ...
- Acceptance of Wearable Devices Creating Opportunities for Players in the Supplement Industry - Ariztonon October 6, 2021 at 9:06 am
The ongoing trend of consuming immune supplements are gaining high traction in the global market. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the demand for these products in all regions. The pet industry is ...
- These 5 Dividend Stocks Pay $71 Billion a Year, Combined, to Their Shareholderson October 3, 2021 at 3:05 am
T hough there are a lot of ways to make money on Wall Street, buying dividend stocks has been about as surefire a strategy as they come. Dividend-paying companies are often profitable, time-tested, ...
- This Cutting-Edge Quantum Computing Software Kit Is Now Open Sourceon October 1, 2021 at 2:52 am
Advertisement You may be a part of the next technology revolution soon. Cambridge Quantum has made its latest quantum software development kit fully open, allowing anyone to use it immediately with no ...
- An open letter to students on Manufacturing Dayon September 30, 2021 at 6:44 pm
Until the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything in early 2020, our teams across the U.S. had celebrated Manufacturing Day by welcoming secondary students to our facilities and giving them a glimpse of ...
via Bing News
