Challenge Identification

Hello there,

We're the Bacterial Detection team of DLab Health, Spring 2011.

In our trip to Nicaragua over Spring Break, we identified the following concern in the Ocotal hospital. Over the course of the next few months we will be developing a prototype to address this need, with the eventual goal of implementation in this and/or other hospitals around the world. We hope you enjoy following our design process as much as we enjoy developing it!


Problem or Need:
Hospital Infections are VERY common. They are monitored every few weeks by placing open pteri dishes inside of rooms.

Background Information:
When people go to hospitals, they often end up getting sick – this is even more common in developing countries, where sterility and quarantine is much more difficult to enforce.

Technical description:
We still need to speak with Noel, but I’m envisioning using the method he used for the bacteria-detecting bandage. If we could maybe tie these onto pillows, bedsite posts, etc. we can have a way of monitoring the amount of bacteria accumulating. With a color-change, it would be able to alert hospital officials that there is the possibility of an infection spreading. We could also put these strips onto labcoats, kind of like geiger counters for bacteria.

Local Community:
Currently, hospitals place pteri dishes in hospital rooms every few days and culture them to monitor bacteria growth. This is only done every few weeks, however, and so there isn’t a consistent method of detecting possible infections.

Contacts:
NoelMarin4@yahoo.es
Noelolivos1 (skype) (INCORRECT)
89492900

Relevant Resources:
Noel’s bandage material, or other ways of detecting general bacteria.

http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/whocdscsreph200212.pdf

Potential Benefits:
Decrease hospital-acquired infections by improving staff monitoring of them.

Potential Obstacles:
Actually treating the infections once they’re been detected. Getting hospitals to implement it – if they find infections on every bed, can they really clean them all?

Local User Community Involvement:
Noel’s done studies on this before, apparently, so we should definitely talk to him to see what he thinks.

- Steph