BMIVPOT, a Fully Automated Version of the Intravenous Pole: Simulation, Design, and Evaluation

Abstract

Robotic intravenous poles are automated supportive instrument that needs to be triggered by patients to hold medications and needed supplies. Healthcare engineering of robotic intravenous poles is advancing in order to improve the quality of health services to patients worldwide. Existing intravenous poles in the market were supportive to patients, yet they constrained their movement, consumed the time of both the patient and the nurse, and they were expensive in regard to what they offer. Although robotic poles overcame some of the movement limitations of the commercial/market poles, they were partially automated and did not offer additional technological features. The aim of our work was to develop a fully automated Biomedical Intravenous Pole Robot (BMIVPOT) to resolve the aforementioned limitations and to offer new technological features to intravenous poles, thereby promoting the health services. Several sensors and build-up materials were empirically chosen to be cost-effective and fulfill our needs. The new prototype was divided into three steps: simulated prototype, real implementation of the prototype, and testing and evaluation. Simulation results showed the best qualitative way to fit all the specifications in the robotic system, such as the shape, sensors, and connections in order to provide the proper functionality of the system. Experimental and real results provided the manufactured parts, implemented sensors, and the final robot. Testing the tracking and the flow sensor performances were provided. Evaluation of our Biomedical Intravenous Pole Robot with alternatives showed that our robot outperforms the other poles in many aspects including the features it offers, the percentage of interventions it comprised, the reliability, and cost-effectiveness. The overall percentage of features offered by our Biomedical Intravenous Pole Robot was 60% higher than that offered by peer research poles and 80% higher than that of the market poles. In addition, the average percentage of integration of interventions (architecture, sensor, wireless, tracking, and mechanical) in the Biomedical Intravenous Pole Robot was at least 56% higher than that of the alternative poles. According to the results, Biomedical Intravenous Pole Robot offers a cost-effective price as compared to the others. As a future prospect, we intend to add more features to this prototype in order to enhance it, such as vital signs detection, and improve the tracking system.

Deep learning-based monitoring technique for real-time intravenous medication bag status

“…However, so far, the role of the IV pole as a mere mechanical hanger for medical goods, such as IV bags and IV injection pumps, had been limited. Several groups have attempted to expand the role of the IV pole to include various medical purposes [ 25 ]; however, most have not focused on the prevention of various IV-related accidents. In this study, we expanded the role of the IV pole as a personal safety platform for automated real-time monitoring of IV bag status using DL techniques by manufacturing a prototype pole that can automatically check for errors involving patient/drug mis-identification using QR code analysis, and can also generate an alarm in cases of shortage of liquid in each of the IV bags using DL models to reduce the risk of blood regurgitation or thromboembolism due to late bag exchange [ 26 , 27 ].…”

Smart Intravenous Infusion Dosing System

“…To display alarm states, the researchers formed a user interface with a screen attached to the IV stand. A prototype of a robotic IV infusion system is presented in [14]. It features an autonomous stand with Mecanum wheels powered by direct current (DC) motors, ultrasonic sensors for the safe movement of the stand, a tracking system with a camera (TAG) for monitoring patient movement, force and flow sensors for detecting fluid levels in the IV bag, and an IR LED sensor for detecting blood if returned to infusion via cannula, after which the valve closes automatically and alarms are sent to the medical staff.…”

“…The advantages of the described systems are continuous detection of IV bottle/bag fluid level [4][5][6][7][8][9][11][12][13][14], sound alarm in the patient's room [4][5][6]8,9,11,13,14], LCD for text alarms in the patient's room [4,6,9,11,13,14], alarm (sound, SMS or LCD) at the nurse room [6,7,9,12], and additional sensors for fluid level detection or monitoring of the patient's condition [6,9,12,14].…”

“…The disadvantages of the described systems are that there is no alarm at the nurse room [4,5,8,11,13,14]; it is not tested on IV bottle/bag [5][6][7]9,11]; the data are only in the controller, with no backup [4,5,8,9,[11][12][13][14]; there is no monitoring application [4][5][6][7][8][9][11][12][13][14] and it has not been tested in hospitals [4][5][6][7][8][9][11][12][13]].…”