NIDian designs machine to monitor anesthesia

To assist anesthetists in their tricky work, a design student has devised a portable anesthesia monitoring machine. It digitally controls the amount of oxygen, nitrogen and halothane given to a patient lying on the operation table, monitors pulse rate, blood pressure and gives prints of latest reports. All this from a laptop-sized device!

Said Sananda Banerjee, a postgraduate diploma student in design, "I got the idea to design the machine after I studied the problems faced by doctors and anesthetists while using the present equipment."

At present, she said, the monitor of the machine is separately placed and needs constant vigilance. The pressure gauge is manually controlled in each cylinder separately; amount of gas required by the patient is determined by the doctors solely based on experience and emergency oxygen flush needs constant monitoring.

The machine aims at reducing human error and making the process of monitoring much easier reducing the workload of anesthetists. The machine also aims to eliminate complications that occur from even a minute's overdose such as nausea. The device monitors pulse oxygen saturation and body temperature with the same system, to control and receive instantaneous physical data like thyroxin saturation.

The machine is designed keeping ergonomics in mind as it can also be used manually by the anesthetist. To help doctors at the time of surgery, the machine has a provision for rotating the screen which shows data of patient's body.

"Channels from the patient's body are attached to the machine. One can put the machine on automatic mode and it will supply the required amount of gas to patients. It could also be operated manually as three separate meters are also installed. Pulse, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure can be measured via the equipment," said Banerjee. 

The equipment also has features- emergency button which will stop the supply of gas and timer to fix time of  supply. "It also has a printer attached if the doctor wants to see the report, unlike the current equipment in which a print needs to be taken from a printer kept at a distant area in operation theatre," she added.