Designing an emergency airway access device using smart materials and technologies
- Submitting institution
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Nottingham Trent University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 21 - 970328
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
-
-
- Location
- -
- Brief description of type
- N/A
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month
- June
- Year
- 2016
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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4
- Research group(s)
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D - Product Innovation Centre
- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- This research, based in a body of product development work was carried out over 5 years and first disseminated in 2016. The research process involved 4 medical professionals over 3 years, as well as lab-based work developing and testing materials and designs over 2 years. The body of work resulted in both the mechanical assessment of existing products and the generation of a new device. The elements of the research were combined through a design process that resolved mechanical, medical and user-focused issues, each element informing the others through a series of iterations.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- More than a million intubationp rocedures, in which a breathing tube is introduced into the trachea of ananaesthetised patient, are carried out in the UK each year. An emergency access airway device, or bougie, is a long flexible rod that can be used by ananaesthetist as part of the intubation procedure. Although bougies are particularly useful for the management of difficult intubations, they must be used with caution to prevent additional injury due to their limited shape retention and limited ability to be manoeuvred when placed into the trachea.
This research developed a bougie with a steerable tip – the steerable bougie – through the use of smart materials, resulting in a design that can be inserted quickly and with a much greater chance of success. Flexinol, a nickel-titanium shape memory alloy, enables the steerable capability. Two Flexinol wires are situated in the bougie casing and when heat is applied to one of the wires via an electric current it shortens, enabling the flexible tip to be steered via a detachable connector and controller.
There designed bougie also has improved shape retention capabilities.The design is fully compatible with the endotracheal tubes currently in use. Ongoing development is working towards manufacture and testing of an advanced prototype, validation by professionals and academic societies, and ultimately commercialisation and clinical use.
The research also developed a number of testing protocols to assess the physical characteristics of bougies, including the Shape Retention Testing System, the first fully calibrated system capable of accurately and reliably measuring the shape retention properties of bougies. The steerable bougie performed significantly better in these tests than all currently available bougies.
The research has been disseminated via four academic journal articles (see appendix), conference papers and via pecialist media.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -