In my fourth blog I wrote about our visit to PAM. Since then, the seven of us evaluated all of the different ideas for projects that we gathered there, and have developed a plan of action for the rest of the summer.
First, we talked about all of the observations we made at PAM until we could translate them into a list of potential projects. Then, we narrowed down that list to nine projects that we all thought could be feasible for the amount of time and people that we had to work with. From there, we each voted on our top 5 favorite projects to determine which ones we should pursue. It was really exciting to see that our favorite project had a unanimous vote of 7 and that the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place projects all still had a resounding majority vote.
|
Project |
Priority (# of votes) |
Estimated Duration (weeks) |
| Suction pump supplement to prevent overflow | 7 | 3 |
| Radial flow splitter | 6 | 1/2 |
| Platform to promote Poly/Rice student communication (probably website) | 6 | continuously |
| Constant temperature monitor for babies to prevent hypothermia, for hospital and at home use | 5 | 2 |
| Oxygen concentrator supplement or modification to promote less frequent breaking | 3 | — |
| Develop more communication channels between the Poly and their community in Blantyre | 3 | — |
| Bililight stands | 3 | — |
| Preventative maintenance plans for PAM | 1 | — |
| Autoclave supplement to prevent turning on the device before adding water | 0 | — |
Based on our estimation of how long each project will take to complete, we have decided to pursue the suction pump, flow splitter, Poly/Rice website and temperature monitor. Already, we’ve put together a prototype of the flow-splitter from mostly locally available materials, and have started research for the suction pump project. In addition to the research we’ve been conducting online, today we stopped by PAM again to take a closer look at some of their broken suction pumps. The idea still needs development, but one promising lead is to attach infrared sensors externally to the collection jars so that when the liquid reaches the level of the sensor an alarm will sound and the pump will be turned off.
In other news, last week we spent a morning in the library helping Charles, Andrew, Christina and Francis set up their blogs. I added hyperlinks, so click on their names to read their latest posts!
