Carolina Vespasiano (Agencia CTyS-UNLaM)
- Critical and severe burns are one of the most painful traumas a person can suffer: Besides severe damages on skin, respiratory tracts, bones, and multiple organs , it implies a continuous sensation of anxiety and fear that the treatment itself can potentiate.
- Según estadísticas del Hospital de Quemados de Caballito, unas 190.000 personas sufren quemaduras accidentales anualmente y el 10 % de esa cifra debe hospitalizarse para su recuperación. A pesar de haberse sometido a tratamiento, unas 200 personas mueren cada año a causa de los múltiples traumas que se derivan de esta patología.
- According to statistics of Caballito Hospital de Quemados, around 190.000 people suffer accidental burns annually, and 10 % out of that number has to be hospitalized to recover. 200 people die each year, despite receiving treatment, due to the multiple traumas derived from this pathology.
Although it is one of the most prestigious institutes in the area, this hospital does not have special beds for severe and critical burnt patients. Currently, in the public health, the most adapted resource for these kind of problems is the water-matress, although it is made from a material that can be punctured, and it is not compatible with CPR manoeuvres. - Researcher and Professor at the Arquitecture and Urbanism Faculty of National University of Mar del Plata, Marianela Amado (Photo), noticed the complexity of this problem and designed a multi-functional bed that is far beyond those available in the public sector. “The purpose is that the patient can have the possibility of being in a place where he or she can receive both physical and psychological care”, says the designer.
- Project started in 2011 when the researcher knew that in the City Regional Hospital the unit for burnt patients had been closed owing to the lack of equipment and economic resources. Since then, she became interested in the difficulties the medical team has to face when rehabilitating a III and IV degree burnt patient. She concluded that “the real user is the doctor, since the element that does not serve as a tool, becomes useless for the patient´s treatment.
- In that sense, she says that “sometimes, the patient´s needs, work against the normal development of the treatment”, referring to the cardiac complications in which , owing to the impossibility of doing CPR over water mattresses, the patients have to be moved to the floor, in spite of the poor aseptic conditions, that are far from the ideal.
A similar situation occurs to the Cleaning and care protocols for the burnt. They have to be rotated every three hours, so the damaged skin can get better and to avoid the forming of new lesions, but the mere act of rotating implies a series of frictions –tangential movements- that might hurt the recovered skin.
- The most complex of the current difficulties is with patients sensations. Under ideal conditions, burnt patients should rest “levitating” so that their wounds do not touch any surface. Since this situation is impossible, the mattress has to offer a similar sensation, but at the same time, make them feel secure.
- Thus, the Project was a real challenge in which movements that a priori seemed incompatible were combined. Ascending, descending, inclining and moving towards both sides, allowing emergency interventions, such as CPR besides the singular conditions for each case, and the usual treatment habits (permanent rotation and bed clothing change).
- The main asset is the longitudinal and lateral multi-articulation that permits the resolution of every possible movement of the patients with a completely motorized system in which the support areas- according to treatment rules-, and allowing hygiene and change of bed sheets without frictions.
- The bed has a base and two stainless iron telescopic columns that allow the ascending, descending, inclining longitudinal movements that are commanded by PLC by remote control. The support is defined as a “chassis” in which all the components are integrated.
- In the upper part, there are modules that support the divided air mattresses that can be commanded individually or as a whole –by inflating or deflating. According to the different needs that might occur. Thus, it allows that specific injured areas may be kept suspended and protected from any treatment eventuality.
- To that novel format, consisting of autonomous and independent parts, adds the mattress, that also counts with capsules that carry out “alternative pressures”, with the consequent sensation of levitation, so necessary for the skin recovering. This trait makes this bed different from any available bed in the market for intensive care.
- To this respect, the designer remarks that lying on this system benefits not only people with severe burns, but everyone who has to be hospitalised for long periods, since the touch and continuous contact of the skin with the traditional beds provokes the formation of ulcers, mostly in elderly and diabetic patients.
- On the other hand, specialists from the Centro de Especialidades Médico Ambulatorios (CEMA) of Mar del Plata, deemed that this prototype also helps for the pathology of forefoot fall, that occurs when a person is hospitalized for long periods of time.
The device is covered mostly by roto-molded foam plastic pieces that protect the structure and are resistant to chloridrates that are applied for the sterilization of the equipment. Besides, they are dismountable and can be easily replaced. - An open space. In the global project, medical requirements as well as the physical and psychological needs of the patients are reflected in each detail. “ Industrial design, she argues, has a strong social and inter-disciplinary component. It is about de-codifying what everybody needs to solve problems”.
- With that prompt, Amado transformed an old demand in one of the new bastions of the school of Industrial Design in Mar del Plata: medical equipment. “Although it was a tough topic, it seemed to me that it was necessary to consider it. This is an area that is having a growing development and Industrial Design can not ignore it”, say the authorities in ST in the University.
- The Project, in which Hospital de Quemados de Caballito, Hospital Interzonal General de Agudos and Materno Infantil Hospital from Mar del Plata collaborated was satisfactorily proved and awaits materialization. “Doctors agree that it would be interesting to carry it out, the only thing that is still pending is the possibility of a serial production”, concludes the designer.
Source: http://novedadesmedicas.com.ar/especial-para-quemaduras-criticas/
