I-Corps: Pediatric Breath Practice Spirometry Device

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种产品，旨在使医疗保健技术人员能够对儿童进行肺活量测定。与儿科患者一起工作的呼吸治疗师和肺科医生将获得对患者进展的更多了解，并提高他们诊断的准确性。这种医疗设备也可用于老年人群，因为在住院和门诊医疗机构中，作为术前和术后医疗协议的一部分，通常需要进行完整的肺活量测定。这个I-Corps项目旨在为呼吸治疗师和肺科医生开发实用和方便的工具。肺部疾病和其他呼吸系统疾病的评估通常包括肺功能测试（PFT），最常见的PFT类型是肺活量测定法。为了完成肺活量测定，患者必须能够在没有空气回流的情况下呼气6秒。许多孩子无法正确地完成测试，所以他们带着牙套和鼻夹回家练习。这种做法是无效的，因为没有办法监测病人的进展。提出的创新使家长能够监控孩子的学习进度，并确保孩子正确地练习。这项新技术是一种专门为儿科使用设计的手持式气流监测装置。该设备由一个带口的小圆柱形管和内部电子元件组成，这些电子元件向用户提供音频和视觉提示。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a product designed to enable healthcare technicians to practice spirometry testing with children. Respiratory therapists and pulmonologists working with pediatric patients will gain an increased understanding of patient progress and improve the accuracy of their diagnoses. This medical device may also be used for geriatric populations as a complete spirometry test is often required as part of both preoperative and postoperative medical protocols in in-patient and out-patient medical facilities. This I-Corps project is seeks to develop practical and convenient tools for respiratory therapists and pulmonologists. Assessment of lung disorders and other respiratory ailments often includes Pulmonary Function Testing (PFT) and the most common type of PFT is spirometry. In order to complete spirometry testing, the patient must be able to exhale for six seconds with no backflow of air. Many children are unable to complete the test properly, so they are sent home with a mouthpiece and nose-clip to practice. This practice method is ineffective because there is no way to monitor the patient’s progress. The proposed innovation allows parents to monitor the child’s learning progress and ensure that the children are practicing correctly. The new technology is a hand-held airflow monitoring device designed specifically for pediatric use. The device consists of a small cylindrical tube with a mouthpiece and internal electronic components that deliver audio and visual cues to the user.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.