Work, work and more work – Thomas N. Shetui
At the end of last week, most final projects on needs findings were assigned to particular individuals. Each individual was required to start working on them and extend further from where the project halted. The task of collecting more information about the project was to broaden the options, enabling comprehensive approaches towards the solution to be an easy peasy process.
With my fellow Industrial Practical Training member Greg Luhambati, we were chosen to work on a central line ultrasound training module. At first it required us to explore more on the currently used method to train health practitioner’s to perform a central lineprocedure prior to doing it to human subjects.
Figure 1: Working on the gelatin based central line ultrasound training model
As shown in Figure 1, my fellow engineering student Gregory Luhambati and I were working on the current model which is a gelatin based central line ultrasound training model. See also Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Research done depicts a lot of drawbacks with the gelatin based model such as low life span (about 2 to 3 weeks), low integrity (it’s rendered unusable after 250 needle piercings) and high cost (about $50). Another drawback is that the model doesn’t reflect an actual body position where the central line access points are located i.e. jugular, subclavian or femoral.
Regardless of the gelatin based model’s drawbacks, the doctors who make the model prefer it due to the ease of access to materials for its production. Along with the drawbacks revealed from both primary and secondary research, there are other challenges that rose during production of the gelatin based model such as refrigeration challenges i.e. the model required a timely and undisturbed low level temperature to obtain the targeted texture. The ideal temperatures required are not quite achievable so we ended up with a model that has several faults. Though the mixture Figure 2: First gelatin based prototype contained only gelatin powder, a preservative (e.g. vinegar) and food coloring, achieving the ideal model was a huge challenge. Despite all mentioned challenges, this model was a crucial part in understanding what was needed to be achieved and at what standard.