With third- and fourth-degree burns, victims who receive proper amounts of fluid have lower chances of disfigurement and death. But calculating fluid levels, which doctors usually do with a pen and paper, wastes key time in medical care and can often be inaccurate.
Mersey Burns, a groundbreaking application, quickly and accurately calculates necessary fluid amounts for victims of life-threatening burns.
Chris Seaton, a computer science doctoral student at The University of Manchester, designed Mersey Burns. Seaton, a former captain in Britain’s Royal Army Medical Corps, was inspired to create the tool after witnessing severely burned soldiers during his seven-month tour in Afghanistan. Seaton worked with Rowan Pritchard Jones and Paul McArthur, plastic surgeons at St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust, to ensure medical accuracy in the mobile application.
"There is great possibility for creating really innovative technology by pairing up small touch-screen devices with medicine," Seaton said in a statement. "Even simple ideas can make a big difference, and all it takes is a doctor getting together with a computer scientist to make it a reality."
The application enables users to fill in burn areas on the outline of a body using their touch-screen phones. Estimated or exact age and weight can also be added. Mersey Burns then automatically calculates how much fluid is needed to treat the patient. The team determined that the application reduces calculation errors by a third.
While the application will be incredibly useful in hospitals, its mobility will also enable soldiers in combat and others to provide care before a doctor can reach the patient.
"Mersey Burns makes the prescription of fluids to burn patients more accurate and less time-consuming, and it uses the touch-screen phone technology that most physicians already carry around in their pockets," said Dr. Rowan Pritchard Jones.
Source: SmartTechnology, By: Rebecca Kutzer-Rice
Posted in: ICT
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