[April 27, 2015] |
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Cambridge Design Partnership Develops Innovative Device to Help Address Global Maternal Mortality Rates
Innovative technology and design partner Cambridge Design Partnership
today announced that it has developed a novel Uterine Balloon Tamponade
(UBT). This medical device is designed to help healthcare workers
respond to life threatening situations experienced by mothers after
childbirth, specifically in low resource settings.
Postpartum Haemorrhage (PPH) is the term given to severe bleeding within
24 hours of childbirth. It is the leading single cause of maternal
mortality and is thought to be responsible for approximately 57,000
deaths each year worldwide, nearly all of which occur in developing
regions1. With the right kind of equipment deployed at
the right time, PPH can be treated very effectively. In 2012, the World
Health Organization (WHO) updated its recommendations to include
the UBT as a treatment for PPH when uterotonic drugs are ineffective or
unavailable.
Commercially available UBTs can cost as much as $200 each and need to be
carefully inserted in theatre by trained clinicians. These factors
prohibit their use in low resource areas, where currently a makeshift
alternative assembled by tying a condom to a urinary catheter - the
'condom catheter' - is being trialled. Whilst this device is certainly
cheaper, it still requires careful assembly, significant training and
kill to be successful.
The new UBT designed by Cambridge Design Partnership bridges the gap
between the more expensive versions used in the West and the 'condom
catheter'. Its novel design combines features that make it intuitive and
effective to use, to enable patient safety even in the hands of less
experienced users - as well as ensuring cost effectiveness for
manufacture.
Lucy Sheldon, human centred design specialist, Cambridge Design
Partnership said, "To be effective in low resource settings, medical
products such as UBTs must be affordable and available; optimized for
the intended conditions of distribution, storage, and use. To meet these
needs we applied a human centred approach to the innovation process -
combining expertise in human factors, risk management and interaction
design - to the development of our device. Our aim was to maximise
usability in the hands of minimally trained birth assistants and lower
the overall costs of the intervention, through reducing the medical
professionals, equipment and training required to safely and effectively
use the device - to ultimately save lives."
Cambridge Design Partnership is now actively looking for partners and
funding to continue the development of its UBT concept, to identify and
test progressive training and deployment strategies potentially
utilising mobile phones and to quantify the potential of a 'reduced
training' UBT intervention.
1 Ref. Say L et al. Global causes of maternal death 2014
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ABOUT CAMBRIDGE DESIGN PARTNERSHIP
Cambridge Design Partnership is a leading technology and product design
partner focused on helping its client's businesses grow. Some of the
world's largest companies trust CDP to develop their most important
innovations.
Cambridge Design Partnership specialises in the healthcare, consumer,
energy and industrial equipment markets and its multidisciplinary staff
have the expert knowledge to identify opportunities and solve the
challenges its clients face.
www.cambridge-design.co.uk
[email protected]
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