Challenge

The lack of resources in public healthcare has led to using alternatives as a solution for the shortage of available medical devices. Inside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, intubation procedure is a must for the patients. The current technique for baby intubation involves the use of adhesive tape around the tube securing it around the cheeks of the patient. This method causes irritation and skin wounds to the baby´s sensitive skin promoting bacteria accumulation and posterior infection. Alternative tube holders are nowadays in the market with a significant high price making them a non-affordable technology.

Solution

At Bioana we believe in simple solutions providing big health-care changes. Our design consists in a single component arched structure with hypo-allergenic adhesive pads for a gentle touch of the baby’s skin. This plastic structure has the capability of adjusting firmly to the patient’s cheeks, and allows the tube to be easily moved around the curvature for placing the tube in the preferred location according to the baby’s position while maintaining the same stable location inside the airway. The device can be adapted to different sizes from premature babies to pediatric patients

Results

This solution integrates design for low-cost manufacturing, as well as a simple, functional, and irritation-free device that provides many advantages to the user, such as fast and stable intubation. This makes it an excellent option to many public healthcare institutions with low budget. Patent pending MX/a/2015/000696.

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