Eli is a feeding tube placement training tool. Eli allows nurses doing their specialization in neonatology, to safely practice all aspects of the feeding tube insertion protocol. This learning tool supports building confidence for the medical staff and quality of care for vulnerable infants.
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Description of Final Design ConceptEli consists of a doll of a 26-week-old premature child attached to a monitor. Due to the doll’s life-like proportions nurses can realistically measure the depth at which the feeding tube should be placed, which is an important part of the protocol. The feeding tube can be inserted into both nostrils and the mouth, to allow for variation and personal preference. The monitor displays a heart rate and blood oxygen saturation percentage. When the tube is inserted into the infant the heart rate displayed on the monitor will respond, for example heart rate might increase a little. Once inserted through one of the three entryways the feeding tube can be directed to take one of several paths that simulate the different situations that might occur during this procedure. |
| By pressing one of the buttons on the monitor box labelled A, B, C or D one can choose to direct the path the feeding tube will take. The path of the feeding tube is determined by switches controlled by Nanotech stepper motors. On the front of the monitor a ‘random’ button allows for better independent practice by automatically picking case A, B, C, or D for the nurse in a random order. Whichever case is chosen the ‘reveal’ button, which is the only blue button, lights up to indicate that it is ready to reveal the location of the feeding tube and whether or not the placement was done correctly. Once this blue reveal button is pressed, the monitor shows a reveal screen where in text the nurse is informed if the placement of the tube is correct or incorrect and a silhouette of the infant mannequin is drawn with a green or red dot indicating the location of the feeding tube respectively. This reveal screen only lasts a few moments and then automatically returns to the monitor screen. At this point the reveal button light will turn off as the lights of all the other buttons turn on indicating that you can pick a new insertion option. | 
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| Project Duration: September 2015 – June 2016 |
| Team members: Individual project |
| Client: Comfitube Team and Maxima Medical Center |
| Read my Final Report here |
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