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THE STORY BEHIND IT ALL
Since childhood, I have had the spirit of an inventor. The problem always was that my ideas either already existed or they were, unfortunately, bad ideas. But as Thomas Edison famously said, "To have a good idea, have lots of them." This, my friends, is a REALLY good idea! |
Years ago, I was renewing my Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certification that I must maintain as an emergency nurse. While all relevant topics were covered, there was a new emphasis that day — hyperventilation.
The literature on the Perils of Hyperventilation was making its way through the ACLS pipeline. All day we heard about the bad outcomes associated with hyperventilation. All day they emphasized the need for providers to deliver the appropriate respiratory rate, 10 breaths per minute — that is one breath every six seconds.
When someone is dying in front of you, it induces an adrenaline rush. Despite being well-intentioned, no one's internal clock is accurate in that scenario. Six seconds feels like an eternity. Beyond that, during manual resuscitation you are also responsible for maintaining face-to-mask seal, watching for chest rise, performing suctioning as needed, and being on the ready for intubation. Your mind is too busy with everything else to be counting slowly to six over and over.
I left ACLS that day convinced that there needs to be a safeguard on the Bag Valve Mask (BVM) to prevent operator error. Simply re-emphasizing the point does not solve for the barriers of reality. My solution needed to be simple and so affordable that it could be available on any BVM, even in a third world country.
Mentally envisioning the worst offenders in the ER, I realized that they basically just hesitate for a moment upon full refill of the bag and then compress it again. The problem is that the BVMs refill almost instantly. Eureka!!
It was in that moment, I knew that the key to a simple solution would be to slow down the refill of the bag to a specified amount of time with approximately the same volume as there was output to the patient. I began doing research, drawing sketches and performing mental tests on my ideas. I soon reached what I believed to be an applicable design.
With a Dremel in hand, I dissected BVMs to harvest the pieces that I needed. Then I attached a thick foam material to create the shapes of the parts that I wanted. These parts were then placed into sculptors' silicon rubber casting material. After the casts were ready, molding resin was poured in. By doing this process, I was able to solve several design problems and create a proof-of-concept prototype.
The project continues to move forward with working models and continued research and development. I am going to go ahead and check "invent something" off of my bucket list. Next on the list, "build a robot."
In reality, inventing is a rich man's game. So far it has been cheaper than college, though, and I have learned a ton. I have had the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from people in many fields including engineering, legal and research. This experience has re-ignited the inventor's spirit within. Now I can't stop having good ideas. Seriously. It is hard to sleep.
The literature on the Perils of Hyperventilation was making its way through the ACLS pipeline. All day we heard about the bad outcomes associated with hyperventilation. All day they emphasized the need for providers to deliver the appropriate respiratory rate, 10 breaths per minute — that is one breath every six seconds.
When someone is dying in front of you, it induces an adrenaline rush. Despite being well-intentioned, no one's internal clock is accurate in that scenario. Six seconds feels like an eternity. Beyond that, during manual resuscitation you are also responsible for maintaining face-to-mask seal, watching for chest rise, performing suctioning as needed, and being on the ready for intubation. Your mind is too busy with everything else to be counting slowly to six over and over.
I left ACLS that day convinced that there needs to be a safeguard on the Bag Valve Mask (BVM) to prevent operator error. Simply re-emphasizing the point does not solve for the barriers of reality. My solution needed to be simple and so affordable that it could be available on any BVM, even in a third world country.
Mentally envisioning the worst offenders in the ER, I realized that they basically just hesitate for a moment upon full refill of the bag and then compress it again. The problem is that the BVMs refill almost instantly. Eureka!!
It was in that moment, I knew that the key to a simple solution would be to slow down the refill of the bag to a specified amount of time with approximately the same volume as there was output to the patient. I began doing research, drawing sketches and performing mental tests on my ideas. I soon reached what I believed to be an applicable design.
With a Dremel in hand, I dissected BVMs to harvest the pieces that I needed. Then I attached a thick foam material to create the shapes of the parts that I wanted. These parts were then placed into sculptors' silicon rubber casting material. After the casts were ready, molding resin was poured in. By doing this process, I was able to solve several design problems and create a proof-of-concept prototype.
The project continues to move forward with working models and continued research and development. I am going to go ahead and check "invent something" off of my bucket list. Next on the list, "build a robot."
In reality, inventing is a rich man's game. So far it has been cheaper than college, though, and I have learned a ton. I have had the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from people in many fields including engineering, legal and research. This experience has re-ignited the inventor's spirit within. Now I can't stop having good ideas. Seriously. It is hard to sleep.
