Month: May 2019

1. Introduction: Pre-departure Preparation

Posted on by Liseth Perez

Hello all!

Seeing as this is my first blog post, I would like to begin with a brief introduction. I have just graduated from Rice this past weekend with a degree in Psychology and a Global Health Technologies Minor. I am looking forward to this internship in Malawi, because it will allow me to further explore my passion for Global Public Health. I plan to make the most of this opportunity and look forward to updating everyone about my experiences through here.

The internship has 4 components. The first is taking a Rice 360 technology to receive feedback on it. I am excited that I will be taking my team, Colostomates, Low-cost ostomy bag. We have been working on this project for the past 2.5 years and I have hope that it will continue to be worked on even though the majority of us have graduated. I believe our device is a simple solution to a complex problem. A colostomy bag is needed when people undergo an intestinal surgery due to Chrohn’s disease, colorectal cancer or other complications. The surgeon redirects their intestine to an opening in their abdomen, which is then referred to as a stoma. The colostomy bag then is used to collect the waste that comes out of the stoma. In high resource settings bags cost $8/bag and people change them 2-3 times a day. However, in low resource settings, people resort to using unconventional, unhygienic alternatives due to lack of accessibility to ostomy bags. Some people even forego these life-saving surgeries due to the social stigma associated with the condition.

 

Therefore, the feedback received this summer will be used to improve our design and be one step closer to creating a product that could be manufactured and used by people worldwide. The feedback I will be receiving will be from nurses, doctors and other health professionals and solely be qualitative and used to improve our design. I will not be asking patients nor have anyone try on the bag, since we do not have an IRB approved study. We have applied to a modification of our previous study and are in the process of eventually being allowed to test it on voluntary ostomates (people with ostomies).

The second part is working on an assigned project by the host. For Kyla (another Rice intern) and I, this is a little different because our “boss” for this project is Dr. Acemyan, the Director of Human Factors for Rice 360, who will be here in Houston during the summer. We met with her in the past two weeks to get a better understanding what usability and ergonomics entails and to discuss what the goal of our time in Malawi will be. Our task is two-fold. We will have to first document the use environment. This involves literal environment parameters, such as temperature, space, and set-up of the NICU and other hospital rooms. However it also involves, politely observing how users interact with the devices. The users range from the baby’s mothers to the device technicians. We will noting what each person uses the devices for and how they learned to use it. Through our meetings with Dr. Acemyan and our readings, we learned that what the users report and what actually occurs may be at a disconnect. In controlled settings, users may accomodate to what they believe the experimenter expects and may hold back on their answers. This is why this observation period is crucial. Next, we will ask nurses about Incubaby (another Rice360 technology that it is at a much more advanced stage) through a set of outlined survey questions, which we are currently working to finalize. This is not meant to be a formal interview but rather the questions will serve as a guideline to a conversation where the nurses will hopefully tell us what they really think about the device and which areas can be improved. This information will then be brought back to Rice to improve the device to better fit the needs. This is one of my favorite parts of the internship, because one of my career interests is human-centered design so this project combines both my passion for Global Health and this. I believe it is important to gain the nurses trust and be a silent observer for some time, before delving into asking them specific questions. This is a balance that may be tricky and with the help of my partner, Kyla we can work through together. Since our time in Malawi will be relatively short, we need to be sure we get the information we need, through a rough timeline but we also need to be aware of our own cultural competency and be sure not to rush or seems to  abrasive. One of the difficulties may be communicating with Dr. Acemyan, since she will not be in-country, but we plan to communicate with her through email and will be handing her a detailed report at the end of the summer that documents our findings. These findings along with the survey questions we are developing are the beginning of protocol that Rice360 could incorporate to evaluate other technologies when they are still in the development stage, rather than waiting until the implementation stage.

The third and fourth part I will be planning and discovering as I am abroad. To begin with I will need to find 2-5 areas where a design project would be beneficial. I will write a separate report on each of my findings and will bring them back to Rice so that they can be considered as team projects in different Global Health classes. Since I will spend most of the workday in Queen Elizabeth hospital, I plan to observe and begin to build a rapport with the nurses. This will help me with both documenting the use environment as well as finding potentials for design projects. The last part of the internship involves finding and implementing my own project. I want to go in with no assumptions and get a better understanding of how the hospital functions and see how their culture specifically differs from ours before making a decision on a project. One of the things I do know, is that I want to include the nurses or other hospital staff at some capacity. I know they are very busy, but I would like it to be a collaborative effort, maybe with the other Malawi or Tanzania interns because there is value in different perspectives and I want to make sure I am not imposing my beliefs or opinions on them.

Overall, I am excited with a tinge  of nervousness. I know there is going to be an adjustment period and plenty to do work wise as part of the internship, but I do also want to enjoy my time there and get to know the other Rice interns going with me as well as the people we will meet in Malawi. For now, my focus will be working with Kyla and Dr. Acemyan on the usability survey questions and packing for the trip!

-Liseth Mariana

 

0. Preparing for Malawi

Posted on by Shadé Flavien

This past week the other Rice 360 interns and I have been diligently planning and preparing for our journey to Malawi. Majority of our time has been spent in the OEDK learning and building the the Rice 360 devices we will be implementing, assessing the material we will need to pack, and learning as many skills as possible before we depart. We are bringing an assortment of low resource medical devices to Malawi that Rice 360 student developed over the past semester and now it is our responsibility to take over their designs for valuable feedback.

Rice 360 Devices for Malawi:

  1. Clean Machine – removes medical tools in a timely manner after sanitation to prevent deterioration
  2. Phototherapy Mask – reusable eye mask to prevent retinal damage during blue light phototherapy of babies with neonatal jaundice
  3. OxyMon – continuous oxygen monitor that displays quantitative values of concentration and alerts clinicians of poor machine function
  4. Neonatal Temperature Monitor – easily monitor premature neonate’s temperature during kangaroo mother care
  5. IV Drip Lock – prevent non-clinicians from tampering with IV dosage
  6. Cervical Thermocoagulation Training Model – reusable training model that teaches clinicians how to perform thermocoagulation therapy on cervical cancer patients
  7. Ostomy Bags – reusable and sterile bags for patients with ostomy ports
  8. Ballard Score Training Model – training model that teaches clinicians how to accurately identify premature babies

                                IV Drip Lock

During our time at the OEDK all the Malawi-bound interns including those going to be at the Malawi University Polytechnic and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, divided the projects among ourselves. Alex, another intern, and I teamed up to work on Clean Machine, Phototherapy Masks, and IV Drip Lock. As we read through each team’s information, we realized just how innovative each of these devices were. One of my favorites is the IV Drip Lock. It has such a simple design, yet is complex enough that non-clinicians are not able to open it without assistance or additional instructions which prevents patients from adjusting their dosage with the hopes of recovering quicker.  It brings on a whole new perception about how simple designs can have an impact on someone’s health.

 

   Phototherapy Mask
                           Clean Machine

Together, Alex and I have sewn new phototherapy masks, 3D printed additional IV Drip Locks, and prepared the components to assemble clean machine once we reach Malawi. Learning how to recreate each of these devices required skills I had to learn on the fly including 3D printing, laser cutting, soldering, how to CAD and use Adobe Illustrator. Obviously I am by no means an expert in any of these areas, but I am proud of the progress I have made so far.

Another job we were tasked with in Malawi, is setting up a new innovation and design space in the Malawi University Science and Technology (MUST). So far, Rice 360 has already purchased the materials we will need to set up the studio, but it will be our responsibility to organize it and create a system to track the use of materials. During my time at the OEDK I have become accustomed to the culture of respecting the tools, materials, and people in the space as well as the willingness to teach one another and the engineering design process. Throughout our time at MUST I hope to impart this culture on the students and develop the space as a whole.

Once, these two weeks of preparation are over,  I will be going home for two weeks before leaving for Malawi on June 3rd! I will spend this time mainly with family, making tons of lists, packing, and trying not to freak out that I will be leaving soon! On June 3rd, our journey will begin in Houston, then on to London, Johannesburg, Lilongwe and finally Blantyre, Malawi. I can’t say I’m too excited to sit still for over 31 hours of travel, but I’m sure it will pass by in the blink of an eye.

Looking forward to what awaits us in Malawi!

– S

 

 

 

 

Week 0: OEDK Technology Preparation and Learning!

Posted on by Sally Yan

Hello! As one of the three interns that are not bio-engineering majors, I’d like to begin my first blog by talking a little bit about what drew me to the Global Health Technologies Minor and this internship with Rice 360. For most of my life, I’ve known that I wanted to become a doctor eventually. Also, pretty early on in high school, I became aware that there are there so many other factors that affect health other than the skills or knowledge of an individual doctor and that this statement was especially true for those living in poverty. So, when I visited Rice as a high school, during the information session, my interest was piqued when the admissions officer briefly mentioned this internship and the opportunity it brought to really look at and address some of the more systemic factors that affect health. However, when she started talking about its focus on technology, I  cast this program aside in my mind as something I personally was not capable of.

This perspective stayed with me during my first weeks at Rice as I thought about what I wanted to study and  to an extent, throughout my first semester even as I was taking the Intro to Global Health Course. I loved the minor and the Rice 360 program, but I was terrified of the word “technologies.” As a girl, I never really was encouraged or given the opportunity as a child to explore engineering or, even, just building things. By the time I had the opportunity to explore engineering through extracurriculars in high school (thanks to Science Olympiad), I had already told myself that engineering was something I wasn’t interested in or capable of.

I realized how flawed this mindset was when taking GLHT 360. My team, also comprised of people who had no background in engineering whatsoever, and I were tasked with designing a training model for the Ballard Score assessment. To give some quick background on what this entails, the Ballard Score is a examination with 12 components that is commonly used in lower resource settings to determine how mature the baby is at birth. Initially, we struggled so much with just trying to figure out how to brainstorm a specific solution or how to prototype. This project was the first time I’d ever used a hammer or a drill on my own, far less gained exposure to 3D printing components or creating digital diagrams with Adobe Illustrator. Even though there was definitely a learning curve, I realized that, like upperclassmen and our professor, Dr. Bond, tried to assure us, these techniques could be learned. And we did end up successfully creating a prototype for one of the 12 components of the Ballard Score, and it was amazing to something go from an idea in our heads to a physical thing.

 


Although there is a long way to go to create a complete training model for the Ballard Score, I’m so excited to be taking our model to Malawi to get feedback from healthcare providers. Over the last week and a half in the OEDK, in the process of polishing up some aspects of our model and watching the interns prepare other technologies that are being brought to our sites, I’ve continued my path in gaining more familiarity in prototyping techniques for engineering. One day, Hannah showed us how to solder, and, on another day, Matthew gave us a quick crash course in Arduino. I was aware of these techniques before, but, while I am hardly an expert in either of these, I’d never imagined being able to do them at all.

In addition, to clean up the appearance of our Ballard Score training model, I switched out a foam component we used to a 3D printed version. That was the first time I used CAD on my own (one of my teammates did most of the CAD for our project). It took me a day and a half to learn to use TinkerCAD through their modules and create these very uniquely shaped pieces, but I did it! And, with Alex’s help, I learned how to operate the 3D printers in the OEDK.



I’m looking forward to whatever I may have the chance to learn over the next week in the OEDK, and, while, I may not be directly involved in an engineering project while in Malawi, hopefully another team builds on and develops other aspects of the Ballard Score training model, and I’m excited to collaborate with them/support them in any way I can. Half a year ago, who knew I would be this invested in an engineering project?

-Sally

Week 0. Preparations in the OEDK

Posted on by Hannah Andersen

Hello all!
Welcome to my blog, where I will be documenting my experiences in Malawi through the Rice 360 Summer Internship over these next few months. I’m indescribably excited for this summer, and I couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity.

Before you commit yourself to spending several weeks following me and my blog posts, I should tell you a bit about myself.
My name is Hannah Andersen, and I’m a rising junior here at Rice University. I went to Prosper High School in Prosper, Texas, where my family still lives. I live at Lovett College, where I’m currently involved as the Outreach committee chair and Head Peer Academic Adviser. In my free time, I love pursuing the perfect cappuccino. I can often be found taking study breaks at Rice Coffeehouse or the Starbucks across the street from my dorm!

I’m pursuing a BS in Bioengineering with minors in both Global Health Technologies and Engineering Design, which means that I’ve spent a lot of time working on engineering design projects. Some examples of my past projects have been a physical therapy model for Texas Children’s Hospital and an exhibit for the Children’s Museum of Houston. My most recent and favorite project by far was through Rice 360’s design course: GLHT 360. This is where my teammates and I created OxyMon – a low cost monitor of oxygen concentration to be used on oxygen delivery machines in low resource settings in order to alert clinicians when patients are not receiving enough oxygen. Oxygen concentrator machines are vital for patients, especially infants, with respiratory distress. However, these machines break often, so our device aims to inform nurses and technicians about the concentration of oxygen actually being output by these concentrators and to alert clinicians when the concentrators are broken. One of my teammates and I will actually be taking OxyMon to Malawi (and Tanzania, in the case of my teammate, Matthew) this summer in order to get authentic feedback to guide our work on the device next semester! Very exciting.

Making more prototypes to travel with us has been the main task of this time spent preparing in the OEDK. Matthew and I have actually decided to roll out a second version of our device, which we’ve dubbed OxyTech, in order to get feedback on two different approaches to our problem space. This lead us to a super fun adventure to a store called Electronic Parts Outlet last week in order to get some supplies. Before then, I’d never seen so many different electronic parts at once, not even in ELEC 243 lab last semester. Most of our time lately has been spent planning for the building of extra prototypes of our old design (OxyMon) and the creation of initial prototypes of our new design (OxyTech). The goal is to make enough to bring two total to both Malawi and Tanzania – one OxyMon and one OxyTech per country.


From left to right: an image of the original OxyMon, the guts inside the original OxyMon, and some pre-assembled components and casing for the new OxyTech design

In addition to prototyping, everyone has been dedicating this time to the necessary preparations that come alongside international travel, such as getting vaccines and prescriptions for anti-Malaria medication (I just picked up 70 anti-Malaria pills yesterday! Boy, were they expensive). And of course, there’s the less official preparations, such as downloading a bunch of movies and music in anticipation for having unreliable wifi at our place of residence in Malawi.

These types of preparations are making the upcoming trip feel more and more real every day. Faced with equal parts excitement and nervousness, I am hesitant to preach to everyone around me that I’m about to have the Unequivocally Best Time of my Life™. Because my family is only five hours away from Rice, I have never gone this long without seeing them before. While my heart yearns to see more of the world, as much as I can, I know that this summer will be full of just as much homesickness as it will be full of wonderful new experiences. It’s going to be amazing, but it’s going to be hard, too. We’re going to have to learn how to take care of ourselves, how to balance a busy work schedule with basic tasks such as cooking and laundry (which I hear we’ll have to do by hand!), how to work on a team with people from very different backgrounds, how to “lead gently” as Dr. L says. If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far during my time here at Rice, it’s that I should not expect everything to go perfectly all the time. In fact, I should definitely expect lots of things to go wrong. I should expect myself to experience failures along the way. But, as the days go by and our departure draws nearer, I am focusing on the idea that it is through our failures that we learn the most. So, I can’t promise a summer of wild success stories where we all go to Malawi and save the whole world in one grand, victorious sweep. But, I can promise that I will work hard every day. I will work hard to lead a design team of students from Malawi and Tanzania, I will work hard to get feedback for OxyMon, I will work hard to engage in needs finding, I will work hard to get to know all the new people around me (both my fellow Rice interns and everyone in Malawi), I will work hard to understand a new culture, and I will work hard to improve myself both as a woman in engineering and as a human being. This is the learning experience of a lifetime and I will work hard to take advantage of that.

That being said, I also intend to have some fun along the way. 😉

Stay tuned for more posts in June when the adventure begins!

Cheers,
Hannah

0: Preparing for Takeoff

Posted on by Nimisha Krishnaswamy

The last couple of months have been busy with preparations. We have attended multiple orientation sessions, signed documents for our program coordinators, booked flights, made appointments to get vaccinations, and started preparing different technologies to take with us to Malawi to get feedback on. I don’t think our to-do list will be getting shorter any time soon, but with the school year ending I’m glad to have so many things keeping me occupied and excited for the summer.

In less than a month, Alex, Hannah, Kyla, Liseth, Sally, Shadé, and I will all be stepping out of a plane and setting foot in the warm heart of Africa: Blantyre, Malawi. The nerves haven’t really kicked in for me yet, I just feel so full of gratitude and excitement for this amazing opportunity and I can’t wait for us to begin our adventures in Malawi.

Right now, we are all working hard in Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK) to make sure all our technologies are ready in time for us to travel. It’s been really fun and we’re all so surprised at how much we are learning so quickly. In the last week alone, I’ve learned how to use Adobe Illustrator, use a 3-D printer, use a laser cutter, design Printed Circuit Boards (PCB), and use a PCB milling machine. Of course, I still have a lot to learn, but getting to work hands-on on these projects has been so rewarding and soon we will have 8 different technologies ready to take with us:

  1. Mechanism to Lock IV Drip Rate
  2. Reusable Phototherapy Masks
  3. Automatic Bleach Sterilization Equipment
  4. Cervical Cancer Thermocoagulation Model
  5. Neonatal Temperature Monitor For Kangaroo Mother Care
  6. Low-Cost Oxygen Concentration Monitor
  7. Low-Cost, Reusable Ostomy Bags
  8. Ballard Score Gestational Age Training Model

Since there are 7 interns and 8 projects, we decided to split up the work among ourselves. I am in charge of the Neonatal Temperature Monitor for Kangaroo Mother Care. I actually started working on this project during the spring semester in my GLHT 360 class, so I’m pretty attached and super excited to get to take it to Malawi for feedback this summer.

Kangaroo Mother Care to treat hypothermia

Usually, in developed nations like the United States, hypothermic babies can be treated quite easily and effectively with incubators. However, in low-resource countries like Malawi, incubators are often too expensive and too difficult to maintain. Instead, a much more cost-effective practice known as Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is used to treat hypothermia. As shown in the photo on the left, KMC is when the mother wraps her baby to her chest with a cloth, known as a chitenge in Malawi, in order to keep the baby warm. With the baby being in close proximity to the mother, the mother’s body warmth is able to regulate the baby’s temperature. It’s pretty effective in keeping the baby at a safe temperature, but it is still really important to have an accurate and continuous monitor that can keep track of the baby’s temperature while KMC is being performed.

 

First prototype: control unit and arm band worn by mother during KMC

The main purpose of our device is to continuously monitor the temperature of neonates, who may be premature and hypothermic, and promptly alert mothers and nurses when the baby’s temperature is too low. All this, while also being small and portable so that the mother can comfortably wear the device on her during KMC. To accomplish this, we designed a device with a control unit that has 3 LED indicators to alert mothers and nurses (blue if the temperature is too low, red if the temperature is too high, and green if the temperature is safe). The control unit also has a vibrational motor inside it which will vibrate, much like a mobile phone, to alert mothers and nurses when the baby’s temperature is either too low or too high. Finally, the control unit has a display screen to show the numeric value of the baby’s temperature. This control unit is placed in a pouch on an arm band that can be worn on the mother’s upper arm. The baby will wear a small, elastic belt around their abdomen, with a temperature probe attached that touches their skin to measure their core temperature. This temperature probe is plugged in to the control unit to continuously display the baby’s temperature reading.

 

Over the next few weeks, we will be finishing up all our prototypes, packing them in suitcases, and praying that they reach Malawi in one piece *fingers crossed*. Some of us are also going to Passport Health soon to get our yellow fever and typhoid vaccinations together, yay for bonding but hopefully I don’t pass out… I’ll keep you updated. I’ll probably be spending a lot of time trying to learn some common phrases in Chichewa (the local language), and watching YouTube tutorials + reading WikiHow posts on how to do grown-up things like washing my clothes by hand and cooking for myself for a whole summer. I can already tell this summer is going to be full of new experiences, and I’m so excited to share everything I learn with you. Next stop –> Malawi!!

— Nimisha 🙂

 

1. First Weeks Before Departure, Working in the OEDK

Posted on by Kyla Barnwell

Hello everyone! Welcome to my Rice 360 Blog!

This is my first blog post, so let me introduce myself. My name is Kyla Barnwell and I am a rising junior at Jones college majoring in Cognitive Sciences and minoring in Global Health Technology (GLHT). I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to Blantyre, Malawi with Rice 360 this summer and we leave in a little over 3 weeks!!! It’s finally happening! The closer our departure date arrives (June 3rd), the more excited and nervous I am to start this amazing experience. Between getting all of our technologies and materials ready for departure and making sure all the other affairs (flights, vaccines, passports) are in order, I have been really busy getting ready to leave.

These past two weeks, our team of Malawi interns have been working in the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen (OEDK) on Rice’s campus building and prototyping the necessary materials in order to make some of the technologies we will be taking over to the Polytechnic Institute and the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. We are taking a slew of technologies including: a mechanism to lock IV drip rates, an automatic bleach sterilization machine, a neonatal temperature monitor for Kangaroo Mother Care, a training model for determining the Ballard Score Gestational Age, a cervical thermocoagulation training model, low-cost ostomy bags, a low-cost oxygen monitoring system, and reusable phototherapy masks.

One of the technologies we are taking is one that my own team has personally designed which I am very proud of. During one of our classes last semester, our team developed a model cervix that can be used train providers in a new cervical cancer treatment technique called thermocoagulation, which is essentially burning any cervical tissue lesions found on the cervix that might develop into cervical cancer. Our team worked extremely hard developing this model and we are amazed to see it actually going over to places like Malawi, Brazil, and Mozambique to get more design feedback and eventually, be used to train providers in this potentially life saving technique. At the OEDK, we worked on 3D printing the molds used make the model cervices and once our ordered materials arrive, we will get to work developing some prototypes very quickly in the next few days. The Brazil team is looking to take around 5 model cervices while we will be mainly making around 20 model cervices prototypes when we are in Malawi. I have also had the chance to learn more about 3D printing software, laser cutting, and other cool OEDK technologies that I have really not had previous exposure to. Since I am not in an engineering major, it has been very cool to watch and learn how to use some of these advanced prototyping tools and software. It was also really cool to learn how to develop a lot of the other innovative technologies we are bringing. I had been exposed to them through peer presentations in our GLHT course, but actually hands-on learning and seeing how each part is made and how it works has been so much more informative. All of the other interns have been really helpful in every project and I have really loved bonding with everyone at dinners and team meeting luncheons.

Here is a picture of the reusable model cervix my team has designed to teach cervical thermocoagulation. The model cervix can withstand temperatures up to 180 C and changes color when exposed to heat, which mimics what an actual cervix does when in contact with the thermocoagulator probe.

While in Malawi, Liseth (another Malawi intern) and I will be working together at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. Our project mentor, Dr. Claudia Aceyman, has tasked us with some very important assignments concerning valuable human factors work and data collection. While in the hospital, Liseth and I are going to be documenting the use environment pretty extensively. This means we will be taking notes on hospital dynamics and interactions, how the environment changes from the perspectives of a doctor versus a nurse versus a patient or family member, and of course, looking into how users interact with our designed technologies and assessing how we can improve in order to best fit the needs of the user. Liseth and I have been reading a ton of articles, journals, and books on human factors research in order to decide how we can best compile and organize all of our findings. We are also looking to develop a survey/interview format that can be used to gauge usability for the Incubaby Neonatal Incubator technology (but also can be applied to other technologies as well). We are brainstorming appropriate questions to ask users while they interact with the technology. We will need to take note specifically of human behavior, abilities, limitations, cognitive resources, and other characteristics to the design of systems, tasks, and equipment/technologies that we are bringing.

Between prototyping, packing, ensuring I have the right anti-malaria pills and vaccines, and the upcoming 15 hour flight from JFK to Johannesburg,  it seems as though I already have a lot in store for me in these upcoming weeks. I definitely have a lot more in store for me once I arrive in Malawi. This trip will be the farthest from home I have ever traveled in my life, so I am a little nervous. I really hope things go very smoothly but there’s always small hiccups to be prepared for when traveling. I am glad I get to see my family back home in Atlanta, Georgia for a little while before I head off abroad. I’ve really missed a good home-cooked meal. Stay tuned for more updates!

1. Ready, Set, Prep!

Posted on by Alex Lammers

During matriculation, President Leebron began his address to our class by saying something along the lines of “We have people here from all around the world… Singapore, India, Germany… and Britton, Michigan – population 568.” As a nervous freshman starting school at a university over 1000 miles away from home, it was comforting to have my hometown mentioned in his welcome speech. It also reminded me, someone who has never traveled outside of North America, that there is a whole world out there filled with exceptional people, each with lives very different than my own. Over the course of my freshman year, I have met so many of these amazing people and been exposed to so many different ways of thinking. While working at the Polytechnic Design Studio this summer, not only am I excited to make an impact on the field of global health, but I am also excited to get to know my fellow interns from Malawi and Tanzania.

On June 3rd, Hannah, Nimisha, Shadé, Sally, and I will board a plane that will take us from Houston to London, to Johannesburg, to Lilongwe. From there, we will meet up with Liseth and Kyla, hop in a van, and ride for 4 hours to Blantyre. After many hours of travel, we will then finally rest at the Kabula Lodge and wake up the next morning ready for the start of our internship. But before all of this can happen, there is a lot of work that must be done…

360° Boot Camp

At the start of our two weeks of technology preparation in the OEDK, we found out that we will be taking 8 projects with us to Malawi…

  1. Mechanism to Lock IV Drip Rate
  2. Reusable Phototherapy Masks
  3. Automatic Bleach Sterilization Machine
  4. Neonatal Temperature Monitor for Kangaroo Mother Care
  5. Low-Cost Oxygen Monitoring System
  6. Ballard Score Gestational Age Training Model
  7. Cervical Cancer Screening Training Model
  8. Affordable Redesigned Ostomy Bags
Securing the Phototherapy Mask, protecting infant’s eyes from blue light.
Opening the IV Drip Lock mechanism with a pen.

For the past week, I have been tag-teaming three of these projects with Shadé. Together we have sewn new phototherapy masks and 3D-printed more IV drip locks to present to the nurses at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. The masks are composed of a cotton hat and a flip down visor that prevents any blue light from damaging an infant’s retinas during phototherapy. The IV drip lock is a case that encloses the roller clamp used to adjust the dosage on an IV drip. The case can only be opened using a pen, allowing clinicians easy access to the roller clamp while keeping it away from patients or concerned family members who may want to adjust the dosage themselves.

 

Clean Machine releasing its inner bucket, removing tools from bleach solution.

Our third technology that we took responsibility for is the automatic bleach sterilization machine (a.k.a. Clean Machine). Previous 360° interns found that doctors and nurses at Queen Elizabeth clean their tools in a solution of bleach and water; however, due to issues of under-staffing, the tools are often forgotten and left to soak for too long. As a result, the bleach eats away at the metal, and the tools have to be thrown out. Last semester, a team of students developed the Clean Machine, a device composed primarily of two ordinary buckets and a kitchen timer. The device allows nurses to load tools into the inner bucket, fill the outer bucket with the bleach solution, and set a timer for a specific soak time. To prepare this technology, we laser cut the acrylic components of the device and condensed some of the wooden components of the device into easily 3D-printed files. Once in Malawi, we plan on assembling the device, implementing it at Queen Elizabeth pending the feedback of the nurses, and leaving behind the CAD files at the Poly for future prototyping.

The Next Few Weeks…

With one more week of our boot camp to go, a lot of the Malawi team’s focus is going to shift towards planning for the setup of another design studio at the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST). Rice 360° has purchased supplies for the studio such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and other prototyping equipment. In addition to setting up these machines at the new studio, we hope to leave behind our knowledge of the engineering design process, culture of safety, and excitement for innovation that has rubbed off on each of us after spending countless hours at the OEDK.

Towards the end of next week, we’ll start to tackle the daunting task of packing everything we’re taking into as few suitcases as possible. Once that’s done, I’ll be on my way back to Michigan to spend two weeks at home before the rest of this adventure begins. Everyday our flight to Malawi grows closer, and I grow a little more nervous, but also a lot more excited about the whole experience.

June 3rd cannot come fast enough!

– Alex