Industrial engineering is becoming more usual in hospitals.
The term operational efficiency has been used for many decades on assembly
lines in manufacturing. Applying some of those concepts and ideas in a scientific
matter to help hospitals is already a reality. Industrial Engineers that work
with health care are always trying to find new ways and new technologies to
improve patient service and improve chance of survival in an emergency.
This year new technologies were announced that can help save
life`s. The Innovative Trauma Care (ITC) developed the ITClamp. That device helps
stop massive hemorrhage, the leading cause of death in traumatic injury, in a
matter of seconds. The device is about 5 centimeters long, very light and it
costs $65. It works by clamping the ITClamp on the wound which helps stop the
bleeding immediately and creates a clot around the wound.
This video shows how the clamp works:
This innovative clamp is a great improvement on the field of
healthcare and emergency situations. It helps the job of industrial engineers
because it assesses one of the major issues on emergency situations, making it
more efficient to streamline the treatment of patients. The size and the
efficiency of the ITClamp are the highlight features. The clamp can be used in
combat or by police officers and firefighters. Also it is very easy to use and
no training is needed so civilians could use it as well. The techniques used
before were not as effective because pressure had to be applied to the wound to
stop the bleeding. The price is very reasonable as well; it is not very
expensive so hospitals could buy many of them. However if there was more industries
that sold those types of clamps, price would be reduced.
The ITClamp is an excellent investment for hospitals and
emergency personnel. It is a very innovative device that will help save many
lives. There are only advantages to this product compared to what it is on the
market now. The ITClamp was the winner of the EMS World 2012 top innovations
award. That shows the impact of this product. I look forward to see the results
of this new technology on the industrial engineering field.
--Pedro dos Santos--
References:
http://www.iienet2.org/IEMagazine/Details.aspx?id=33788
http://www.emsworld.com/product/10821630/innovative-trauma-care-itc-itclamptm-hemorrhage-control-system
http://www.medgadget.com/2012/04/tactical-use-skin-closure-device-stops-traumatic-bleeding-in-combat-zones.html
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130108006685/en/Innovative-Trauma-Care%E2%80%99s-ITClamp-Hemorrhage-Control-System
This device is interesting considering it is light weight and portable. With the proper training anyone could use it effectively to save their's or another's life. Personally, if the device were to be used on myself, I would be a little hesitant due to the teeth used to hold the clamp in place.
ReplyDeleteYea those teeth look pretty big on that clamp. Is this product on the market or is it just in the design phase right now?
ReplyDeleteIt is already in Canada and it is being approved to be sold in the US.
DeleteThat looks like a really interesting piece of equipment, I'm sure that medical professionals would find it very useful. I liked that you included a video embedding in you post. I was a little hard for me to scan your article because it really looks like one large block of text.
ReplyDelete