Maintaining a high quality clinical database is critical to obtain reliable information upon which to base clinical and institutional decisions, and to preserve the public and the user's confidence in the quality of the data. The success of the Perfusion Downunder Collaboration (PDUC) Database, a dataset for cardiopulmonary bypass procedures, can only be guaranteed through the assurance of the ...

We present a case study on the use of robustness-guided and statistical model checking approaches for simulating risks due to insulin infusion pump usage by diabetic patients. Insulin infusion pumps allow for a continuous delivery of insulin with varying rates and delivery profiles to help patients self-regulate their blood glucose levels. However, the use of infusion pumps and continuous gluco...

An experimental technique for the creation of any statically stable density profile is presented. This technique is essentially a generalized, unsteady version of the ‘‘twotank’’ method that is well known to the stratified flow community. It involves specifying the desired density profile and then solving an inverse problem in order to determine the necessary flow rates of light and dense fluid...

Totally implantable venous access devices (TVAD) are commonly used to supply long-term, intermittent central venous access for the administration of chemotherapeutic drugs and intravenous (IV) antibiotics (1, 2). The most common complications related to TVAD implantation are venous thrombosis, extravasation, dislodgement, catheter leakage, and infection. Fracture and embolization of TVAD and re...

This case study summarizes the systems engineering aspects of the next-generation SymbiqTM IV (intravenous) medical pump development. SymbiqTM was developed by Hospira Inc. and documented in detail in Chapter 5 of the National Research Council book, Human-System Integration in the System Development Process. As described in the book, SymbiqTM's purpose was “to deliver liquid medications, nutrie...

Peristaltic pumps are mechanical displacement pumps that induce flow in a fluid-filled, flexiblewalled conduit through peristalsis – transport due to traveling contraction waves. While macroscale peristaltic pumps appear in a variety of configurations, micropumps based on this principle almost exclusively use the sequenced contraction and expansion of a small number of discrete actuators – typi...

The microphone in a fully implantable hearing device (FIHD) is generally implanted under the skin covering the temporal bone. However, the implanted microphone can be affected by the skin, which causes both sound attenuation and distortion, particularly at high frequencies. As the degree of attenuation and distortion through the skin is severe, speech quality evaluation parameters are needed fo...

Implantable medical devices (IMDs) are man-made devices, which can be implanted in the human body to improve the functioning of various organs. The IMDs monitor and treat physiological condition of the human being (for example, monitoring of blood glucose level by insulin pump). The advancement of information and communication technology (ICT) enhances the communication capabilities of IMDs. In...

Introduction Even with the technological development of infusion pumps, pediatric intensive care nurses are resistant to administer red blood cells (RBC) by linear peristaltic infusion pumps due to the supposed risk of cells damage, despite the need of accuracy in low flow rates. Patient safety can be compromised both by RBC quality decrease due to the pumping mechanism, as well as, by possible...