The Institute of Medicineestimates that tens of thousands of Americans die needlessly every year from avoidable medical errors, including infections acquired during surgery. GE and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have now teamed up to change that. They will develop an “intelligent” system using robots, computer vision and automatic identification technologies like RFID tags to fetch, sort, and sterilize surgical tools. The system could save lives, and money.
Some of the technologies behind the system have been helping to automate manufacturing lines for years. But their application in the surgery environment is new. “We believe that in combination with a new level of intelligence, they can help make operating rooms run more efficiently, lead to better patient outcomes, and save millions of dollars in healthcare costs,” says Lynn DeRose, a principal investigator and “auto-ID expert” in the Distributed Intelligent Systems Lab at GE Global Research.
DeRose says that scalpels, clamps and other tools will bear unique IDs that the intelligent robotic system can recognize. The system will be designed to perform a series of tasks, including the sorting of surgical tools, sterilization, and location tracking during transportation to and from the operating room. The goal: deliver the right sterilized tools in the right place, at the right time, and in the right order. DeRose says that perhaps her biggest challenge will be to make the robotic system “intelligent enough” to manipulate a diverse set of surgical implements. “Even maneuvering something as simple as a pair of scissors requires lengthy coded instructions for a robot,” she says.
A system like this is long overdue. Staff in many hospitals still inspect, wash and count tools by hand, a technique that is inefficient and potentially fraught with errors that can lead to delays and patient harm. An automated robotic system could cut surgical infections, streamline surgery scheduling, and improve efficiency. “According to experts in the field, the surgical operation and recovery setting is considered the fastest growing and most resource intensive section of the hospital, accounting for approximately 30 to 50 percent of a hospital’s budget,” DeRose says. “Simply put, the operating theater is the single largest contributor to a facility’s bottom line.”
The designers will evaluate the the two-year, $2.5 million project a VA hospital.
People in Abilene, reports Nora Hartfeil for KRBC News, now have access to some of the prestigious neurologists in the country, thanks to a new technology recently introduced at Abilene Regional Medical Center. As stroke victims are rushed to the emergency room, “Time is of the essence”, says Jeff Johnson, of Abilene Regional Medical Center.
The ER doctor then realizes he needs to call in a specialist–stat! Johnson is often working in the ER and explains that no Abilene neurologists are available in that short of notice. But within seconds, a specialist from Colorado shows up in the Abilene Regional ER, ready to diagnose and treat the problem.
“Once we need a neurologist to consult, he can beam in here in less than 30 seconds. Now if we had a neurologist come from across town, it would take much longer, upwards of 30 minutes or more”, explains Johnson. This time and life-saving technology allows doctors and patients to communicate and make split-second decisions.
“That neurologist is able to phone in and actually see the CT scan of the head, so he has access to our radiological images right here in the hospital”, Johnson tells us. This technology that’s making it’s way into exam rooms, doctors say is the way of the future
“Another robot, and another technology. You’ve got to stay up with the technology, to be at the top of your game”, Johnson says. The social networking-inspired tool makes survival just a click away. Though currently used for strokes only, Abilene Regional tells us this technology could be used for several other health emergencies in the future. Full story on KRBC News edition 07/10/2013.
Scanadu Scout™, of Scanadu,a scanner packed with sensors that enables anyone to conduct sophisticated physical exams — in a snap. The device, called a Scout, is a handheld, disc-shaped sensor that when placed against the forehead for 10 seconds, will monitor vital signs, including temperature, respiratory rate, blood oxygenation, heart rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Additionally, it performs an electrocardiogram and assesses “stress” as a custom metric. The Scout transmits these data to an integrated smartphone app that can record, track, and analyze vital signs providing a single “comprehensive healthfeed” for multiple users.
Simply place the Scanadu Scout™ to the forehead. As if it is reading your mind, the Scanadu Scout™ detects problems early. It potentially decreases hospital readmissions, and the costs of managing chronic conditions for patients and insurance companies alike. Yep, all that just by placing it on your forehead. Imagine all the other possibilities.
Scanadu Scout™ measures, analyses, and tracks your vitals. It’s no accident that doctor visits start with checking your vital signs. Scanadu Scout™ provides you with access to valuable data which your body provides every day. Don’t let that precious information get lost; use Scanadu Scout™ to analyze, track, and trend your vitals with unprecedented simplicity.
Finally, information about our body is not locked away inside the walls of a hospital.
Your body’s information where it belongs: in your hands. Share it with your doctor and others to take health conversations – and discoveries – to a new level. Learn ways that different people, locations, activities, foods, beverages, and medicines affect your body. Sick or well. Discover connections. Watch trends. Spot side effects. Catch problems early. And track them. Get healthier.
The PIP, of Galvanic–Kickstarter is a revolutionary biosensor that helps you combat stress. Available for both iOS and Android, the PIP detects whether you are stressing or relaxing in real time.
We’ve made the PIP super-easy to use. Just hold it between your fingertips and it will communicate your stress level wirelessly to an app running on your smartphone or tablet. An ever-expanding suite of gaming and entertainment apps is available, allowing you to visualize and master your stress in a fun and engaging way.
In today’s fast paced world, the PIP is designed to suit your lifestyle – highly portable, easy to use and above all, fun, the PIP is a unique product that empowers you to beat stress, when and where you want to.
How does it work?
When you are in a stressful situation your body’s flight or fight response is activated. As a result, blood is rushed to the periphery of the body which causes your sweat glands to activate. This activation changes the conductivity of your skin and is referred to as the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR).
Held between your finger and thumb, the PIP captures those changes and transmits them, via Bluetooth, to your mobile device.
Algorithm for Deducing Stress
Merely measuring the GSR is not enough. We have developed our own complex GSR analysis systems to give accurate feedback for all users of the PIP regardless of skin type and environmental conditions.
Biofeedback
The PIP has emerged from research and development in the exciting “Quantified Self” space, and empowers the user to develop relaxation skills using a technique called biofeedback. One of the most valuable aids in any learning process is performance feedback. Biofeedback is a process where the user learns to gain conscious control over an aspect of their psycho-physiological state, by providing continuous information on whether or not they are “doing the right thing”. With repeated practice, the user gradually evolves a personal strategy that produces the desired result. This offers all sorts of opportunities for people to “manage the moment” – from general well-being, to any area of life where being calm improves performance.
The PIP and Games
Any activity that requires repetition is in danger of becoming boring. That’s why the PIP puts the fun into relaxation. The feedback mechanism is provided through a game running on a smartphone or tablet. Users’ stress levels, as measured by the PIP, are used to determine their performance in the game: the more relaxed they are, the better they do. The counter-intuitive way the PIP works is a powerful learning mechanism. One of the great strengths of video games is that they allow the player to have fun, while performing the same task over and over again. By using games as the context for biofeedback, the user learns how to relax quickly, while having fun at the same time.
Compatibility
The PIP will work with the iPhone 4S and above, the iPad 3 and above and most Android smart devices.
Limited Edition PIPs
For Kickstarter we’re offering a special choice of colors. We’ve included the image below for illustrative purposes to give people an idea of what these PIPs will look like.
What Our Community is Saying
We’ve been lucky enough to get suggestions from our backers about how they might use the PIP in new and interesting ways. We would like to share these thoughts with the whole community as well as invite people to suggest more possible uses of the PIP.
Psychology
Measuring and using GSR for therapeutic purposes has been common for many years. We have had messages from psychologists and psychotherapists the world over, who see the PIP as an avenue for patients to extend therapy outside the clinical setting. We are told it could be of use in the treatment of PTSD, chronic pain, addiction and many other afflictions.
Parents
The gaming aspect of the PIP seems to be particularly attractive to parents. One early tester of the PIP had his two children play Relax & Race at bedtime. They really enjoyed playing but with the added advantage of calming their minds before sleep. In addition, some parents have suggested that their children could use the PIP to relax and focus just before a big tennis match.
Quantified Self
There’s lots of interest from the Quantified Self community who use devices to monitor, record and analyse physiological signals to promote long term health and wellness. They have told us the PIP would be a valuable addition to their toolkit. To assist them we have recently announced that the games will include recording and analysis features so they can track their improvements. We are also creating a standalone QS app for real-time monitoring of your stress levels. The app will allow you to record and review key performance statistics and charts and will be free of charge to everyone.
Xenex’s patented pulse xenon UV room disinfection system is a pesticidal device used for the advanced environmental cleaning of healthcare facilities. The Xenex system has been repeatedly shown to integrate smoothly into hospital cleaning operations because of its speed and ease of use.
Features Include
Pulsed-Xenon UV Lamp
Using a Xenon bulb, a powerful, non-mercury form of UV light, combined with a pulse technology that generates high intensity pulses, which makes Xenex the most powerful form of UV-C.
UV Focus System
Uses reflectors and movement to focus UV light towards “high touch” surfaces.
On-Board Database
Logs system activity for utilization tracking and analysis.
Visible Light Filter
Blocks the bright xenon pulse, so that rooms with interior glass can be treated without distraction.
Safety Features
Built in safety timer, emergency stop button, automatic shutdown motion detection system.
The New UV
Pulsed xenon disinfection was developed in the late 1970s and represents an advance over the earlier mercury vapor systems (note: if it is not pulsed xenon, then the system uses mercury lamps). Pulsed xenon UV has a number of advantages over mercury vapor systems:
1. Green
The xenon gas used in our system is inert. We are a certified green technology because the only alternative commercially available means to produce UV for room disinfection uses mercury vapor lamps. Many organizations, including the WHO, have long sought to reduce and eliminate the presence of mercury in hospitals. We help them achieve that goal.
2. Intense:
The pulse produced by our patented pulsed xenon system is approximately 25,000 times more intense than the output of a mercury vapor lamp. Because of this, we can penetrate and damage organisms in unique ways. This is especially important as our pulse, because of the intensity, reflects with different properties allowing for our proven disinfection results.
3. Multiple Pathways of Damage
Not only is the pulsed xenon pulse more intense, it also contains multiple frequencies of germicidal UV. It is known that microorganisms are susceptible to UV damage in the range or 200 to 280 nanometers. Pulsed xenon produces frequencies across this range whereas as mercury vapor systems produce UV at 253.7 nanometers, which has about a 40% efficiency for DNA damage. Because our pulse contains higher energy wavelengths, the Xenex system damages cell walls, cellular structures as well as emits UV at 260-265 nanometers, which is mirrors the peak DNA/RNA absorbency
A Technological Breakthrough Opening a New Era in Dental Simulation Training. Dentaroid, of Nissin Dental, a clinically more realistic training with this robot cultivates students’ medical accident avoidance capability and communication competency with patients.
Conversation capability and humanlike texture
The robot knows over 20 patterns of automatic dialogues, thus allowing communication just like with an actual patient. Also, its skin texture is very close to real human skin, and its various lifelike body movement functions such as eye blinks create a realistic training environment.
Simulate patient reactions and accidents during treatment
The robot is equipped with about 10 different reaction movements that simulate accidents that can occur during treatment, such as reaction to pain, cough reflex, vomiting reflex and irregular pulse. It makes irregular movements under various situations which allow students to gain experience under a clinically realistic environment.
1) The robot shakes her head sideways as a reaction to pain.
2) The robot does a cough reflex.
3)Accidents due to vomiting reflex can be simulated.
4) The robot raises her left hand and complains of pain to the doctor.
While the use of ultrasound to identify tumors during kidney cancer surgery is gaining acceptance, a research team at Henry Ford Hospital has successfully taken it a step further by showing an added benefit when the procedure is done robotically.
Simply put, the kidney surgeon who performs the ultrasound robotically has direct control over the painstaking procedure instead of having to rely on an assistant for part of the task.
The researchers compared the robotic ultrasound probe to the same procedure using a laparoscopic ultrasound probe, which requires an assistant to guide the ultrasound probe for the surgeon. At the end of the study, the researchers found comparable results between the two methods.
The paper has been accepted by the Journal of Endourology.
“Besides giving the surgeon autonomy, the robotic ultrasound probe is more easily manipulated than the laparoscopic probe when measuring the tumor from certain angles,” said Craig Rogers, M.D., a urologist at Henry Ford Hospital’s Vattikuti Urology Institute and senior author of the study. “This can reduce the need to move the kidney to gain better position.
“While our study showed comparable results from both methods of mapping and measuring kidney cancers, the robotic ultrasound probe enables the precision of a robotic instrument as well as direct surgeon control.”
The surgical procedure studied used in each case studied by the researchers was robotic partial nephrectomy, or RPN, in which only the diseased part of a cancerous kidney is removed by a surgeon-controlled robot instead of traditional open surgery in which the entire kidney is removed.
They collected data from 75 consecutive RPN procedures using a laparoscopic ultrasound probe and 75 consecutive RPNs using a robotic ultrasound probe.
“Both groups had similar tumor characteristics, operating times and other factors, and their outcomes were similar,” Dr. Rogers says. “There was no statistically significant difference in measured variables between groups when controlling for tumor size and complexity. So the robotically controlled ultrasound probe performed on-par with traditional ultrasound, but with the added benefit of direct surgeon control and precision.
All patients in both study groups were found to be cancer-free during follow up examinations at a mean of 25.7 months for the laparoscopic group and 10.2 months for the robotic group.
“We helped pioneer both the development and utilization of this robotic ultrasound probe right here at Henry Ford Hospital” says Dr. Rogers. “This is another advance in technology to help us with minimally invasive cancer surgery.”
Robotics 