Med-Tech Innovation Industry News
INDUSTRY NEWS
Early results from fast track user testing
The three-year Intelligent Design Engine for Assisted Living (i-DEAL) project has reported a number of early commercial successes. i-DEAL is focused on the evaluation of electronic assistive technologies to support industry in the design and
development of fit for purpose products, .
As part of the i-DEAL project, Professor Andree Woodcock in Coventry University’s School of Art and Design, has designed a toolkit that gives companies guidance on choosing the most appropriate evaluation methods for developing products as well as advice on setting up a usability study.
Other partners in the project, Health Exchange, Hereward College and Ergonova have worked with the University’s Health Design Technology Institute (HDTI) to establish a methodology that captures the physical, cognitive and aspirational needs of end users.
This combined work offers businesses fast track user testing process. It has allowed Safe Patient Systems to improve the usability of its Safe Mobile Care product, a low cost remote monitoring smart phone device. This was initially trialled with diabetes patients to record weight, blood glucose and insulin levels, and alerts healthcare providers if any of the parameters are out of line with their care plan. Usability studies highlighted the need to make the device Bluetooth enabled to avoid mistakes in manually inputting data. The project steered the design of the product from the user interface perspective, in terms of colours, font sizes and layout to ensure the device was simple to use. The device has now been adopted by South Birmingham PCT to enable healthcare professionals to prescribe and monitor a patient’s condition via a touch screen interface with wireless connection to vital signs devices. The company has also developed a prototype bedside monitoring device for the care home environment and the project evaluation has opened up new opportunities to develop the product for different markets. The i-DEAL project is led by Alvolution, the Assisted Living Division of MedilinkWM, and supported by the Technology Strategy Board Assisted Living Innovation Platform.
www.alvolution.co.uk
www.med-techinnovation.com Made in Wales drug delivery device
Hall Lock is a system to prevent drugs being accidentally administered via the wrong route. Accidents occur because an identical standard connector is used for many
different drug delivery routes and they are completely interchangeable. Hall Lock, developed by Professor Judith Hall, of Cardiff University, School of Medicine, in collaboration with South Wales based Flexicare Medical, makes a misconnection impossible.
A separately shaped series of connectors has been developed for spinal, nasogastric, arterial and intravenous uses. The external shape and internal fitting of each system is not compatible with each other and none can interconnect. They are also colour coded. Professor Hall explained, “One reason for drug errors in medicine is that humans make mistakes and wrong route administration is a recurrent cause of drug errors. This can be avoided by the use of connectors that simply make it impossible for drugs meant for one injection route to be given via another route.”
There are plans to introduce respiratory and urinary connectors into the range. It was one of several innovative products featured at the BioWales conference in March.
http://halllock.com
Year 2011 MRI turning point
The MRI market has suffered in the global economic recession. A new report from InMedica forecasts an upturn in 2011. Global unit shipments are forecast to increase to almost 4,000 by 2014, representing a CAGR of 6.0%. The latest technological developments focus on higher resolution, higher contrast images, enhanced workflow and faster scan times. The market is seeing demand in an increasing number of applications such as interventional and functional MRI, as well as its continued integration with other modalities such as ultrasound. New non-contrast agent techniques (spin-labelling), for example in angiography, are also now available, according to Research Manager, Diane Wilkinson.
www.in-medica.com
Clinical trial gender bias Two-thirds of participants in studies used to obtain US Food and Drug
Administration approval for devices including implantable defibrillators and pacemakers were men. More than 25% of the trials did not provide the gender of participants. These findings, in a report by the American Heart Association, raise concerns over the safety of these devices in women. Recommendations are that more women are included in trials, that the data are analysed by gender, and that devices are not approved until it is known how they work in women as well as men. Read the full story at
www.bloomberg.com
April 2011 ¦ 11
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