The IV-Buddy

Whenever fluid is given into the body via a dripline, the dripline should be monitored to avoid air embolism or formation of blood clots that can block the tubing. This is conventionally done by hospital nurses and ambulance paramedics peering at the drip chambers. For catheter (thin tubes visible under X-rays) interventions in arteries, where continuous administration of fluids is important to keep the blood from clotting within the catheters, there is nothing suitable on the market to monitor flow. Interruption of flow, even for only a minute, can lead to blood clots that can result in severe disability or death.

Doctors and paramedics of The Mobile Stroke Unit Charity, together with founders of Nvention, identified the need for a simple device that can be used on ambulances and in hospitals for operations in the brain and heart. Our invention, the IV-Buddy, automatically sounds an alarm if flow within a drip line into the body stops. The IV-Buddy has a novel sensor technology that leads to increased patient safety during infusions. With the IV-Buddy, valuable nursing time does not need to be spent repeatedly inspecting drip chambers.

Infusion pumps could potentially be used, but they are expensive, cumbersome to handle, not readily available and not usable for catheter interventions. Our easy to use IV-Buddy will improve patient safety, especially in low-resource settings where infusion pumps are scarce.

The IV-Buddy has other applications. Army medics were excited to learn of this new tool that saves lives while evacuating soldiers, or during mass casualty events. Other applications include home infusion and dialysis, blood donation or patient transport in hospitals and ambulances. With the IV-Buddy, fluid monitoring becomes possible in poorer countries where infusion pumps are too expensive.

The IV-Buddy is innovative as:

\* there is no such device on the market,

\* it lowers the risk to patients by automatically alerting the clinician of a problem,

\* it is simple to use,

\* it can be low cost, making it widely affordable.

This grant will fund technical design to incorporate product extensions requested by users after seeing our earlier prototype. We will also obtain information on and plan for the clinical trials (in the ambulance and catheter lab) needed to gain regulatory approval.

The improved version of the IV-Buddy developed during this grant will be prototyped as part of the evaluation of its new features and tested in a simulated environment to evaluate its safety.