The Design and Development of a Low-Cost Syringe Pump to Improve the Quality of Neonatal Care in Low-Resource Settings
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: Imaging & Biomedical Engineering
Abstract
The need for a low-cost, neonatal, syringe pump will be established and a solution to this need will be developed.
The project will follow the methodology of human-centric design to find an unmet clinical need, and develop a solution, that fits within the identified constraints, with the potential for commercialisation. This methodology will be broken down into 5 phases, known as 5D.
The Discover phase began by identifying the need for a low-cost medical device, to aid surgical care in low-resource settings, by reviewing WHO consortium device lists, research papers, research articles, patents and current device markets (major device manufacturers, market sizes, market saturation and global trends). In the Define phase, the need for low-cost, neonatal syringe pumps, designed specifically for low-resource healthcare settings. The need will be formalised in a review paper referring to recent literature, research and patents. In the paper, the need for syringe pumps was defined and contextualised to identify the current greatest clinical need. Interviews with relevant stakeholders and evaluation of the current competitive market helped to define the design requirements needed for a device to create a product profile.
The above research will define the parameters of the need so that, during the Design phase, a low-cost syringe pump was ideated and rapidly prototyped to meet the design goals. The Design phase was be an iterative process. The Develop phase will involve bench testing the mechanism, with the results reported in a paper. The design will then be patented. Clinician feedback will help meet the necessary design goals, with results reported in an another paper.
The final phase will be the Deploy phase in which the syringe pump will be tested, in clinical settings, by the relevant clinicians. This will gain further feedback and measure the success of the device through the improvement of patient outcomes. The device's design will altered for DFM and MVPs produced
The project will follow the methodology of human-centric design to find an unmet clinical need, and develop a solution, that fits within the identified constraints, with the potential for commercialisation. This methodology will be broken down into 5 phases, known as 5D.
The Discover phase began by identifying the need for a low-cost medical device, to aid surgical care in low-resource settings, by reviewing WHO consortium device lists, research papers, research articles, patents and current device markets (major device manufacturers, market sizes, market saturation and global trends). In the Define phase, the need for low-cost, neonatal syringe pumps, designed specifically for low-resource healthcare settings. The need will be formalised in a review paper referring to recent literature, research and patents. In the paper, the need for syringe pumps was defined and contextualised to identify the current greatest clinical need. Interviews with relevant stakeholders and evaluation of the current competitive market helped to define the design requirements needed for a device to create a product profile.
The above research will define the parameters of the need so that, during the Design phase, a low-cost syringe pump was ideated and rapidly prototyped to meet the design goals. The Design phase was be an iterative process. The Develop phase will involve bench testing the mechanism, with the results reported in a paper. The design will then be patented. Clinician feedback will help meet the necessary design goals, with results reported in an another paper.
The final phase will be the Deploy phase in which the syringe pump will be tested, in clinical settings, by the relevant clinicians. This will gain further feedback and measure the success of the device through the improvement of patient outcomes. The device's design will altered for DFM and MVPs produced
Organisations
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/R513064/1 | 01/10/2018 | 30/09/2023 | |||
| 2444265 | Studentship | EP/R513064/1 | 01/10/2020 | 30/09/2024 | Oliver Norton |
| EP/T517963/1 | 01/10/2020 | 30/09/2025 | |||
| 2444265 | Studentship | EP/T517963/1 | 01/10/2020 | 30/09/2024 | Oliver Norton |
| Description | The need for a low-cost, neonatal, syringe pump will be established and a solution to this need will be developed. The project will follow the methodology of human-centric design to find an unmet clinical need, and develop a solution, that fits within the identified constraints, with the potential for commercialisation. This methodology will be broken down into 5 phases, known as 5D. The Discover phase began by identifying the need for a low-cost medical device, to aid surgical care in low-resource settings, by reviewing WHO consortium device lists, research papers, research articles, patents and current device markets (major device manufacturers, market sizes, market saturation and global trends). In the Define phase, the need for low-cost, neonatal syringe pumps was formalised in a rapid review paper. the need for a low-cost syringe pump was established through a rapid review of recent publications from the last five years. Synthesis of the relevant literature demonstrated that the greatest need is in sub-Saharan Africa. A design specification, for the syringe pump, was also created through interviews with relevant clinicians with experience deploying quality neonatal care in developing countries. Now in the Design phase, a low-cost syringe pump is being ideated and rapidly prototyped to meet the design goals. The Design phase is an iterative process. The Develop phase involves bench testing the mechanism, with the results reported in a paper. The design will then be patented. Clinician feedback will help meet the necessary design goals, with results reported in an additional paper. The final phase will be the Deploy phase in which the syringe pump will be tested, in clinical settings, by the relevant clinicians. This will gain further feedback and measure the success of the device through the improvement of patient outcomes. |
| Exploitation Route | The design and development of the device, from this work, will allow future engineers to test the device in a larger pilot study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the device to help improve neonatal healthcare in developing countries. The device can then be manufactured for a global impact. Future work on this device will likely be continued by a start-up, or established company, that particularly focuses on the design and development of medical devices specifically for low-resource healthcare settings. The global regions to test and deploy the device were identified in the rapid review. The design specification created will allow others to also design syringe pumps to help meet the need. |
| Sectors | Electronics,Healthcare |
| Description | The findings from this work aims to help improve the quality of care given to sick and premature newborns in developing countries. This will be achieved by deploying the low-cost syringe pump, in low-resource healthcare settings, that is being developed in this project. After this studentship, the work will likely be continued by a start-up, or established, company for mass testing, manufacturing and global deployment of the device. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |