WeirdMedical™

Now motorcycle enthusiasts have a better chance for survival…

Therapeutics hypothermia just took a huge leap from the hospital bed onto the streets. Checkout the new ThermaHelm(R) brain bucket that neatly coddles your brain like a new born babe. The manufacturer’s video says it all –>

Cryo Brain Bucket

Now EMS teams can expect more live motorcyclists due to this new cooling therapy.

Excellent intel, ThermaHelm!

Now can you make one for bicyclists?

Did you ever imagine as a kid, losing the ability to walk and getting a pair of robotic pants that your clumsily staggered around the house in?

Or…did you ever pretend you lost your eyesight and got a pair of ooky biomechanical “popping” eyes to peer at your friends?

Well, here they are 12 recent advances in robotics that even most kids did not imagine…

Advances In Medical Robotics

So goes the $6M Bionic Man…read on…

NASA…no need to say more.

Can we really be moving into a new era where what the patient experiences – feels, touches and even smells – really matters?

Can our medical device industry be moving in the direction of consumer marketing where patient-based consumer-type-products are becoming reality?

“There’s something called value-based purchasing in [health-care reform] that actually measures patient satisfaction,” according to Bob Schwartz, general manager of global design for GE Healthcare, “— and hospitals are reimbursed, in part at least, on what those patient satisfaction scores say.”

Bob Schwartz, general manager of global design for GE Healthcare

It actually appears that the patient’s feedback and opinions are starting to matter as much as those of our medical professionals. Especially now that U.S. healthcare reform driven by the balance of better procedural outcomes, patient satisfaction through provider rating systems, and cost containment is creating a perfect storm.

Read more about this “Proctor & Gamble” marketing approach…it’s not the science of technology but the science of consumer behavior!

These headlines go to show you that humans and their inventions are adequate but rarely perfect…

FDA clot device advisory tells of patients’ risks (re: Inferior Vena Cava Filters)

Left-sided Cancer: Blame your bed and TV?

A Newly Candid FDA on the Future Of Medical Device Regulation (re: example – external infusion pumps, pp. 3 & 4)

Mobile toilet tissue role

Let’s talk space…outer space that is…

On Monday, April 5, a new water filter system flew to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. It’s mission? To enable emergency intravenous (IV) operations to help sick astronauts in space.

The new IVGEN (IntraVenous Fluid Generation) filtering technology was developed under the code name, “Project Clearwater,” at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio in cooperation with the team under the guidance of Philip Scarpa, medical operations manager at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

IntraVenous Fluid Generation (IVGEN) water filter

“Currently, NASA’s medical experts have identified at least 115 different scenarios in which a sick or injured astronaut could need an IV while living on the space station, mostly for rehydration of medicine delivery,” according to Remy Melina, SPACE.com Staff Writer. This not weird but neat website, Space.com, explores inventions going into outerspace for evaluation and testing including those for use in human health.

This is one of the last four of the NASA shuttle flights before the shuttle technology is retired:

Images – Life on the Space Station (courtesy of Space.com)

Twitter Discovery STS-131 mission realtime log (courtesy of SpaceFlightNow.com)

Lucky is the next medtech design engineer to follow his/her device into space!

Tired of that drafty ol’ back door?

You’ll soon bee in luck!…perhaps the next time you visit your doctor’s office.

British patients scheduled for their next physical or ob/gyn examination may soon be treated with dignity. US-born top fashion designer, Ben de Lisi has said “enough!” to the traditional tie-in-the-back gown. He has designed a wraparound gown that is being tested in the city of Bristol, England. As of Tuesday, local hospital officials’ report that patient feedback has been positive.

(The Times Online)

The new gowns may not be quite what Kate Winslet or Demi Moore would wear floating down the red carpet at the Oscars. However, these utilitarian wraparounds will be unveiled next month, and the British government hopes to have them in hospitals next year.

And since most of us don’t have cute enough bumms, this design has arrived none too soon!